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tibvaxy  of  Che  Cheolocjiccd  gtminavy 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


BV  4501  .T48  1892 
Thorold,  Anthony  W.  1825- 

1895. 
Questions  of  faith  and  duty 


QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 


Human  nature  craves  to  be  both  religious 
and  rational;  and  the  life  which  is  not  both 
is  neither. — Rev.  Aubrey  Moore. 

/  stretch  forth  my  hands  unto  Thee;  my 
soul  thirslefh  after  Thee,  as  a  thirsty  land. 

PSALM  cxliii.  *>. 


QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH 


AND   DUTY 


JUL     8    /969 


BY   THE    RIGHjT    REV, 

ANTHONY  W.  THOROLD   D.D. 

lord  bishop  or  Winchester 

Prelate  of  the  Most  Noble  Order  of  the  Garter 
Hon.  Fellow  of  Queen' s  College  Oxford 


PHILADELPHIA 
J.   B.    LIPPINCOTT   COMPANY 
^  1892 

L- 


II- V  cannot  kin  die,  when  we  will, 
T/n  fire,  which  in  the  heart  resides ; 

The  spirit  Moweth,  and  is  still, 
In  mystery  the  soul  abides  ; 

Hut  tasks  in  hours  of  insight  willed, 

Can  be  through  hours  of  gloom  fulfilled. 

Matthew  Arnold. 


y 
$& 


^ 


To 

Much  prized  Friend* 

in  the  Diocese  of  Rochester, 

Left,   but  not  Lost, 

This    ]rolunie  is   Offered  in   Grateful 

Affection. 


"  To  love  truth  for  truth's  sake  is  the 
principal  part  of  perfection  in  this  world, 
and  the  seed  plot  op  all  other  virtues." 

LOCKK. 


PREFACE 

1FE  is  full  of  compensations,  and  the  mor- 
tifying interruption  of  one  beautiful  duty, 
is  sometimes  found  in  God's  kindness  to  those, 
whose  one  ambition  is  to  be  useful,  to  create  the 
opportunity  for  another. 

These  simple  pages,  covering,  though  not 
indeed  exhausting,  some  of  the  most  vital  ques- 
tions of  Christian  thought  and  conduct,  were 
mostly  composed  during  the  enforced  leisure  of 
the  Sundays  of  the  past  year,  when  to  write  the 
Gospel  seemed  the  next  best  thing  to  preaching 
it.       So  the  pen  took  the  place  of  the  voice. 

A  book  reaches  farther  than  a  sermon,  and 
occasionally  lives  longer. 

It    is   the    writer's    earnest    prayer  that    "  the 


viii  PREFACE 

God   of  all   comfort "   will    enable    him    by   this 

insignificant   volume    to   comfort   some   who   are 

in    any   trouble,    by   the   comfort    wherewith   he 

himself  has  been  comforted  of  God. 

If,  further,  he  is  bold  enough  to  hope  that  a 

sentence  may  occasionally  be  found  in  it  by  which 

even  a  saint  may  consent    to    be    edified  ;  still 

more  he  trusts  that  nothing  will  be  detected  in  it 

which  a  ripe  student  of  God's  most  holy  word 

can  justly  resent  or  condemn. 

A.  W. 

Farnham  Castle. 
Easter,  1892. 


CONTENTS 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE 


1.    WHAT  TO   PRAY   FOB    AS   WE  OUc.IIT 
II.    WHAT   WE   OWE   TO  GOD 

III.  TI1K   PEARS    IN    FRONT     . 

IV.  LIFE   LONG    AMI   SHORT 


9 

IS 


THE  HOME 


I.    THE   ANXIETIES   OF   LOVE 
II.    A    J'ARENT'S   COMPLAINT 
ill.    A  CHILD'S  SELF-ASSERTION    . 
IV.    TIES   OF    FLESH    AND   OK   SPIRIT 


31 
36 
41 

47 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED 


I.     THE    DECEITFULNESS   OF   SIN 
II.    THE   MOVING   OF   CONSCIEN(   E 

III.  THE   SINNER'S    DILEMMA 

IV.  THE   DIVINE    ANGUISH 
v.    NO  CONDEMNATION 


55 
60 
66 
72 
78 


CONTENTS 


CHRIST  RISEN 


I.    THE    RESURRECTION    CREDIBLE 
II.   THE   QUESTION    BY   THE   OPEN   TOMB 

III.  THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY      . 

IV.  THE    CHALLENGE   TO    DEATH 


PAGE 

•  37 

•  93 

•  99 
.   106 


CHRIST  ASCENDED 


I.    FAITH    IN    CHRIST     . 
II.    JEsUS   SINLESS 

III.  CHRIST    A   TEACHER 

IV.  CHRIST   THE    FOOD    OF    MAN 


1  15 
122 


*33 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER 

I.    HOLY   BAPTISM X43 

II.    THE   GIFT   OF   THE    HOLY   GHOST I50 

III.  THE   TEMPLE   OF   GOD 155 

IV.  SPIRITUAL    DULNESS 160 

V.    THE    BIBLE l66 


COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT 


I.    SHORTCOMINGS 
II.    DETERIORATION 

III.  IMPERFECT   FAITH   . 

IV.  FORGIVENESS  OF   INJURIES 
V.   THE   SECRET   OF  GRACE 


SORROW 

I.   THE  CONSOLATIONS   OF   GOD 
II.    A   CLOUDED   SOUL   . 

III.  DISAPPOINTMENTS  . 

IV.  THE   CUP   OF    THE   LORD 


173 

179 


188 
194 


20I 
203 


CONTENTS  xi 

SECRET  FAULTS 

P  V  .1 

I.  SLOTHFULNESS 229 

II.  CK\SORIoUSNE>s 236 

III.  PUSILLANIMITY 243 

IV.  [NO  INSISTENCY 249 

SERVICE 

l.    I  SEP!  LNESS 257 

11.  m:ighbol"Rlim:s> 262 

iii.  openings  of  good 269 

IV.    GIFTS 274 

'•THINGS   WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED  " 

I.  SYMPATHY 283 

II.  PATIENCE 290 

III.  SACRIFICE 297 

IV.  REVERENCE 305 

V.    HOPE 313 

THE  END 

1.    THE   DREAD   SURPRISE 323- 

II.  JUDGMENT 331 

III.  RECOMPENSE 338 

IV.  Tin:   WHITE  ROBES 344 


"  Unity  is  not  the  first  scene,  but  the  last 
triumph  of  Christianity  and  man.  Christ 
Himself  could  not  create  unity  in  His  Church. 
He  could  pray  for  it,  and  His  prayer  most 
movingly  teaches  us  to  work  for  it." 

Archbishop  Benson. 


THE    PERSONAL    LIFE 


The  two  constituents  of  a  satisfied  life  arc  in /ah  tranquillity 
and  some  excitement. — John"  Stuart  Mill. 


WHAT  TO  PRAY  FOR  AS   WE  OUGHT 

What  wilt  thou  that  I  should  Jo  unto  thee  ' — Mark  x.  51. 

THIS  was  Christ's  question  to  a  blind  beggar, 
and  it  was  not  the  first  of  its  kind.  To 
a  young  king  it  bad  also  been  put  in  the  form  of 
a  gracious  command  :  "  Ask  what  I  shall  give 
thee."  The  question  and  the  command  amount 
to  the  same  thing ;  and  in  each  case  the  answer 
was  almost  identical.  Solomon  asked  for  insight, 
the  spiritual  wisdom  that  would  help  him  to  rule 
men  and  do  his  appointed  life-work.  Bartimaeus 
wanted  eyesight,  the  gift  indispensable  for  the 
material  needs  of  man.  For  every  one,  it  must 
be  good  to  remember  that  God  is  unchanged  in 
His  bountifulncss,  and  we  in  our  necessity. 
Sight  is  still  our  supreme  want  ;  and  to  know 
that  we  need  it  is  the  first  condition  of  asking 
for  it  ;  to  be  made  to  feel  it  through  the  deepen- 
ing, the  sifting,  and  emptying  of  the  soul  is  the 
one  condition  of  receiving  it  ;   and  to  be   brought 


4  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

from  time  to  time  (He  must  do  it  Himself)  into 
the  presence  of  the  Gracious  Saviour,  that  we 
may  feel  Him  bending  over  us,  looking  us 
through  and  through  with  eyes  that  do  not 
burn,  only  melt  us  into  love,  and  then  gently 
asking  us,  "What  shall  I  do  unto  thee?"  is 
the  experience  we  need  not  dread,  nay,  if  we 
are  wise,  we  shall  even  welcome.  Among  the 
The  four  multitude  of  spiritual  blessings  which  a  thought- 
befirst  °  ful  and  devout  heart  may  well  desire  for  itself, 
asked  for.  come  first,  perhaps,  these  four.  That  we  may 
see  the  Father.  That  we  may  be  stirred,  edi- 
fied, ripened  in  personal  holiness.  That  we  may 
keep  our  faith  calm  and  intelligent  and  unmoved 
amid  the  controversies  that  surge  round  us. 
That  we  may  be  continually  and  abundantly  used 
for  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 

When  Philip  said,  "  Lord,  show  us  the  Father, 
and  it  sufficeth  us," — quite  a  different  prayer,  be 
it  observed,  from  "  Show  us  God," — Christ  did 
not  resent  the  petition  as  unreasonable,  or  pre- 
sumptuous, or  unnecessary.  There  is  a  real 
sense,  in  which  the  human  spirit,  created  by  God 
in  His  own  image,  and  intentionally  furnished 
with  moral  and  spiritual  instincts  which  justly 
and  inevitably  claim  to  be  met,  may,  ought,  must 
desire  to  see  God  as  Father ;  in  other  words,  be 
morally  satisfied  that  He  who  claims  from  it 
worship,  and  reverence,  and  love,  justifies  that 
claim  by  the  perfection  of  His  own  nature. 
Christ,  as  we  have  seen,  did  not  at  all  demur  to 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  ; 

the  claim,  for  He  promptly  recognised  its  reason- 
ableness. He  wondered,  rather,  with  a  sense 
of  painful  surprise,  that  He  Himself  had  not 
been  felt  already  to  have  answered  it  :  "  Have 
1  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and  hast  thou 
not  known  me,  Philip?  He  that  hath  seen  Thesense 
me  hath  seen  the  Father."  The  trial  of  faith  in  Fatheril- 
God's  Fatherliness  is  no  strange  thing  to  the  ness- 
child  of  God.  Most  of  us  have  felt  it  already,  and 
many  of  us  will  feel  it  again.  We  are  told  that 
God  is  love,  and  we  have  intensely,  joyfully 
believed  it,  and  we  have  pressed  it  on  others 
whose  hearts  were  breaking.  Some  woful 
morning  dawns,  when  He  does  to  us  what  we 
could  not  conceive  ourselves  doing  to  our  worst 
enemy.  We  ask  with  some  of  old,  "  Lord, 
carest  Thou  not  that  we  perish?"  At  such 
moments — the  crises  are  not  frequent — we  are  to 
see,  and  hear,  and  trust,  and  cling  to  God  in 
Christ.  "  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time. 
The  only  begotten  Son,  which  is  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Father,  He  hath  declared  Him."  Christ, 
in  all  that  God  did  to  Him,  in  all  that  fie 
accepted  from  God,  is  the  revelation  both  of  the 
Father  and  of  the  Son.  In  Him  we  must  hide 
till  the  bitterness  is  past,  to  Him  cling,  that  the 
Eternal  God  may  be  our  refuge.  At  such 
moments  our  stammering  prayer  must  be,  "  O 
Lord  Jesus,  pour  the  divine  love  into  me  !  Hold 
me,  I  am  too  weak  to  cling  ;  trust  me,  I  am  too 
crushed  to  pray.      '  Show   me   the  Father.'      My 


6  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

heart  is  dead,  but  Thou  art  greater  than  my 
heart  and  knowest  all  things.  Thine  own  words 
shall  be  my  words ;  only  help  me  truthfully 
and  reverently  to  utter  them  :  '  The  cup 
which  my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not 
drink  it  ?  '  " 

Then  let  us  earnestly  ask  Him  to  deepen  and 
ripen  us  in  personal  holiness.  Some  are  indiffe- 
Personai  rent  to  holiness,  as  if  to  be  saved  from  hell 
(they  little  know  what  hell  means)  were  all  they 
need  care  for.  Others  despair  about  it,  having 
long  sought  it,  but  in  the  wrong  way,  or  having 
lost  their  first  love,  chilled  and  smothered  by  the 
world.  Each  soul  has  its  personal  discipline, 
its  separate  treatment,  its  supply  of  grace,  its 
opportunities  of  fellowship,  from  Him  who  is 
Physician,  Shepherd,  Master,  Spouse,  "  Friend 
that  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother."  Two 
things  He  ever  aims  at  in  us — depth  and  matu- 
rity. "  These  have  no  root."  We  remember 
their  history.  Shallowness  of  nature,  super- 
ficialness  of  knowledge,  facility  of  emotion,  lack 
of  moral  fibre,  are  fatal  to  the  life  of  the  soul. 
Immatureness,  too,  through  inexperience  of  life, 
and  ignorance  of  the  depths  of  Satan,  and  unac- 
quaintance  with  the  deceitfulness  of  our  own 
hearts,  we  sometimes  see  (it  is  their  own  fault) 
even  in  believers  grown  grey  in  Christ.  Oh,  let 
us  sincerely  and  even  eagerly  ask  our  Lord  to 
deepen  and  ripen  us,  consenting  to  His  method 
of  doing  it,  thirsting  for  God — the   living   God, 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  7 

wishing   to  love   Him  for  Himself,  and    not  only 

for  His  gifts,  recognising  that  His  best  reward  is 

His  own  image  in  us,  our  highest  distinction  to 

represent  Him  to  the  world. 

Once  more  to  maintain  a  calm  and   steadfast 

and   cheerful  faith,  amid  the  controversies  of  the  Faiih amia 

contro- 

hour,  noble  and  ignoble,  which  trouble  beautiful  versies. 
souls  grandly  solicitous  for  the  world's  salvation 
and  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  Saints,  is 
a  gift  much  to  be  coveted,  and  always  at  the  dis- 
posal of  those  who  can  read  history,  appreciate 
both  the  method  and  purpose  of  revelation,  dis- 
tinguish between  things  that  differ,  and  trust 
Christ  with  the  government  of  His  Body.  A 
book — really  one  of  the  inexplicable  marvels  of 
the  world,  except  on  one  hypothesis — which  not 
only  outlives  attacks,  but  actually  thrives  by 
them,  is  not  likely  to  be  robbed  of  all  its  life- 
giving  power  because  some  of  its  portions  may 
turn  out  to  be  not  quite  so  old  as  they  were  once 
thought  to  be,  or  because  a  stupendous  and  in- 
evitable mystery,  which  in  our  own  times  is  only 
beginning  to  receive  all  the  study  it  deserves, 
still  hangs  over  the  interactings  of  the  human 
and  divine  natures  in  the  Person  of  the  incarnate 
Son.  Nothing  can  rob  us  of  the  Gospel  story 
of  Christ.  Nothing,  save  the  Church's  dogmatic 
faith,  can  adequately  explain  His  character. 
Nothing,  but  wilful,  and  repeated,  and  deliberate 
sin,  can  separate  us  from  His  love.  "We  have 
heard    Him   ourselves."       This    is   the    supreme, 


S  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  indispensable,  the  indestructible  argument 
which  can  accept  no  substitute,  and  fears  no 
corrosion.  "  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou 
hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

Once  more,  let  us  pray  that  in  whatever  way 
it  may  please  Him,  He  will  increasingly  and 
abundantly  use  us  for  His  kingdom  and  glory. 
Working  Nothing  dissipates  cobwebs  like  active  service, 
and  we  all  occasionally  weave  cobwebs  of  some 
sort  or  other.  Nothing  feeds  love,  stirs  devo- 
tion, retards  deterioration,  or  kindles  joy,  like 
working  for  the  Saviour.  Our  methods  of  ser- 
vice may  change,  our  capacity  for  onerous  duty 
may  diminish,  opportunities  may  seem  fewer  as 
physical  strength  decays.  But  to  have  the  will 
true,  the  conscience  quick,  the  mind  nimble,  the 
heart  burning,  is  as  possible  for  the  autumn 
years  as  for  the  brisk  springtime.  The  secret 
of  this  is  that  His  love  constrains  us.  The 
method  of  it  is  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  Not 
to  grow  careless  or  lazy ;  not  to  nurse  fads 
about  health,  or  to  be  basely  and  timorously 
anxious  about  the  care  of  the  body ;  not  to 
become  torpid  or  dumb  ;  not  to  rest  on  our  oars 
because  we  can  no  longer  take  the  stroke  oar ; 
not  to  refuse  to  do  only  a  little,  because  we  are 
mortified  not  to  be  able  to  do  much — for  this 
let  us  ask  Christ,  and  let  us  be  quite  sure  He 
will  give  it  to  us.  So  we  shall  still  bring  forth 
fruit  in  our  old   age,  and   finish   our  course  with 

j°y- 


THE  PERSON  1/    LIFE  9 

11 

WHAT  WE  OWE  TO  GOD 

How  much  owest  thou  unto  my  lord  ' — LUKE  xvi.   5. 

THIRST  in  order,  as  we  have  seen,  comes 
Christ's  question  to  the  soul.  God  is 
before  the  soul,  is  at  once  the  origin  and  sphere 
of  its  being.  But  next  in  order  comes  the  soul's 
question  to  itself,  a  question  too  often  left  out 
of  sight  through  a  perilous  forgetting  of  the  true 
place  of  obedience  in  God's  plan  of  holiness. 
God  is  a  debtor  to  man.  That  is  quite  true,  and 
man  is  in  no  danger  of  forgetting  it.  But  man 
is  a  debtor  to  God,  which  is  equally  true,  but 
which  he  is  liable  continually  to  ignore.  The  in- 
debtedness of  God  to  man  (through  God's  amazing 
and  unaccountable  love  to  him)  is  indicated  in 
Christ's  question  to  Bartimaeus,  and  is  essentially 
implied  in  the  reasonableness  of  prayer.  Man's 
indebtedness  to  God,  with  the  penitence  imposed  Indebted- 
on  his  conscience,  and  the  praise  involved  in  c.od. 
his  worship,  and  the  gratitude  which  inspires 
his  will,  and  the  faith  that  sets  his  heart  at 
liberty,  let  us  consider  now.  It  must  make  all 
the  difference  possible  in  the  start,  and  motive, 
and  diligence  of  our  lives,  with  what  purpose  we 
live    them,   with    what    aim,    and    temper,    and 


io  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

devotion  we  think  of  Him  Who  has  graciously 
spared  us  for  them.  To  recognise  our  indebted- 
ness to  God  need  not  paralyse  us  into  a  sudden 
despair,  as  if  it  involved  our  staggering  under 
the  awful  obligation  of  ten  thousand  talents,  at 
the  risk  of  being  cast  into  prison  until  we  pay 
the  debt.  For  that  debt  Christ  is  our  ransom 
and  daysman.  But  "  the  love  of  Christ  "  should 
constrain  us  henceforth  to  live  not  unto  ourselves, 
but  to  Him  that  died  for  us  and  rose  again.  We 
are  debtors,  not  to  the  flesh — we  live  after  the 
flesh.  Not  fear,  not  self-interest,  but  adoring 
grateful  love  is  the  motive  of  the  regenerate  life. 
Let  us  consider  our  indebtedness  to  God,  first  in 
The  came  the  cause  of  it,  or  how  it  is  that  we  owe  Him 
debtedness.  anything  ;  and  then,  in  the  nature  of  it — what  it 
is  that  we  owe. 

"  I  am  a  debtor,"  said  St.  Paul. 

For  the  four  reasons  of  creation,  redemption, 
election,  and  grace,  each  of  us  owes  an  infinite 
debt  to  God. 

When  the  general  thanksgiving  in  the  English 
Prayer-book  invites  the  congregation  to  "  bless  " 
God  for  "  creation,  preservation,  and  all  the 
blessings  of  this  life,"  the  question  may  fairly  be 
asked,  if  such  language  can  be  quite  justified  by 
the  visible  order  of  the  world.  We  need  not, 
indeed,  pay  too  much  attention  to  the  cynical 
worshipper,  who  has  darkened  his.  sky  with 
clouds  of  his  own  making.  A  sincere  thinker, 
however,  who  dares  not  make  things  better  than 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  n 

they  actually  are,  because  he  does  not  know  how 
to  account  for  their  being  so,  and  who  sadly 
listens  to  the  wailing  voices  of  the  suffering  and  the 
oppressed — unless  he  recollects  the  irreversible 
law  of  compensation  indicated  in  the  parable  of 
Dives  and  Lazarus,  and  says  to  himself  again  and 
again,  "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do 
right?" — will  be  puzzled  to  explain  what  cause  for 
thankfulness  the  victim  of  some  atrocious  slave- 
raid  in  Africa  can  be  expected  to  discover  for  being 
burdened  with  a  life  of  such  appalling  misery. 
There  must  be  thousands  of  thousands,  we  make 
bold  to  say,  of  those  who  among  the  cruel  habi- 
tations of  the  earth,  fast  bound  in  misery  and 
iron,  wish  that  they  had  never  been  born.  But 
to  us,  placed  in  a  Christian  land,  surrounded 
with  the  comforts  and  safeguards  of  civilisation, 
who  have  the  fountains  of  knowledge  and  the 
dignity  of  freedom,  the  means  of  grace  and  the 
hope  of  glory,  life  is  not  only  worth  living,  but 
is — in  spite  of  its  disappointments  and  losses, 
and  partings  and  accidents — a  noble  and  a 
beautiful  thing. 

Yet  even  a  blesseder  gift  than  the  first  crea- 
tion is  the  second  ;  indeed,  but  for  the  second, 
not  only  would  the  first  be  far  less  desirable, 
but  it  might  be  doubted  if  it  were  worth  having 
at  all.  We  are  redeemed  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  and  from  the  penalty  of  sin,  and  from  the 
fear  of  death,  and  from  the  power  of  the  grave, 
into    the   hope   and    fruition    of  an    endless   life. 


12  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Death  is  no  longer  the  end  of  life  :  it  is  "  an 
event  in  it."  We  believe  in  life,  not  in  death. 
We  look  across  death  to  something  beyond  it, 
and  by  faith  are  enabled  to  say  :  "  We  know 
that  when  this  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle 
is  dissolved  we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 
The  mys-  Election    is    another    mystery   of    the    divine 

election.  love,  a  word  at  which  we  need  not  start  as  if 
it  were  only  to  be  found  in  the  cruel  formulae 
of  hard  dogmatists.  An  election  of  some  kind, 
both  of  nations  and  individuals,  to  gifts,  bless- 
ings, and  privileges,  is  a  fact  of  the  universe, 
which  confronts  us  everywhere.  To  deny  it, 
or  ignore  it,  or  run  away  scared  from  it,  be- 
cause the  fact  has  been  logically  expanded  into 
an  iron  doctrinal  system,  which  neither  our 
fathers  nor  we  are  able  to  bear,  is  as  silly  as 
it  is  perilous.  The  sovereign,  unaccountable, 
righteous,  loving  will  of  God  is  the  only  account 
of  it.  The  fact  that  it  has  so  pleased  Him  is 
the  only  key  to  it.  But  this  election,  whatever 
it  may  mean  for  others,  is  for  us  an  unspeak- 
able blessing  ;  we,  we  know  not  why,  are  in  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  "O  the  depth  of  the  riches 
both  of  the  wisdom  and  knowledge  of  God  !  how 
unsearchable  are  His  judgments,  and  His  ways 
past  finding  out ! " 

We  thank  Him  also  for  grace — the  continual, 
overshadowing,  indwelling,  inexhaustible  gift  of 
the  Holy    Spirit.      What    we   owe   to    the    Holy 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  13 

Spirit  wc  shall  never  know,  till  we  go  to  drink, 
in  the  sinless  land,  of  the  water  of  life  that 
Hows  from  the  throne  of  God.  He  regene- 
rates, converts,  stirs,  deepens,  teaches,  guides, 
consoles,  invigorates,  perfects  us.  u  By  the 
grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am." 

What  do  we  owe  Him  ?  \yi,al  m 

It   must   be  remembered,  with   a  certain  awe,  "r'"st P:'-v 

'  '  Him  in 

that  each  owes  his  own  separate  debt,  according  return. 
to  the  measure  and  quality  of  his  individual 
mercies  ;  and  this  debt  each  must  discover  and 
discharge  for  himself.  As  to  the  general  indebted- 
ness equally  common  to  all,  we  owe  Him  worship, 
and  righteousness,  and  trustfulness,  and  love. 

Worship  we  owe,  with  a  large  share  of  ador- 
ing praise  in  it.  Almost  the  surest  test  of  the 
disinterestedness  of  our  prayers  is  the  propor- 
tion of  thanksgiving  they  contain.  Worship, 
moreover,  to  be  complete,  includes  all  that  ac- 
centuates and  embodies  and  expresses  worship 
— substance,  testimony,  and  service. 

Then  we  owe  Him  righteousness.  Christ's 
fulfilment  of  the  law  for  us,  unto  our  justifica- 
tion, is  not  to  dispense  with  the  fulfilment  of  the 
law  by  us  in  our  sanctification.  The  purpose 
of  God,  the  end  of  the  atoning  sacrifice,  the  re- 
ward of  Christ's  travail,  the  result  of  the  divine 
energy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is — the  Church,  "  with- 
out spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing,  but  that 
we  should  be  holy  and  without  blemish." 

We  owe  Him  trustfulness.      Nothing  honours 


14  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Him  like  trusting  Him  ;  or  wounds  Him  like 
failing  to  trust  Him.  Indeed,  sometimes  all  that 
we  can  do  to  prove  our  steadfastness  and  to 
manifest  His  glory,  is  to  show  that  we  trust 
Him.  This  is  a  service  always  open  to  all. 
"  Though  He  slay  me,  yet  will  I  trust  in 
Him." 
The  debt  Best  and  last  and  sum  of  all,  we  owe  Him 

of  love.  ,-ii 

love,  and  as  we  pay  this  debt  we  pay  every- 
thing, and  yet  feel  that  nothing  is  paid.  Less 
we  must  not  give,  more  we  cannot.  If  you  ask 
how  it  is  that  He  cares  for  our  love,  the  only 
answer  is  that  it  is  His  nature.  For  God  is 
not  content  with  loving,  He  desires  to  be  loved 
— loved  even  by  sinners,  for  with  love  goes  the 
life.  But  it  must  be  a  complete  love,  the  love 
which  is  "  the  going  out  of  self,"  the  love  which 
represents  and  includes  every  department  of  our 
being  ;  the  love  of  body,  which  offers  every  one 
of  its  members  as  a  living  sacrifice  ;  the  love  of 
mind,  which  ponders  intelligently,  and  scruti- 
nises exactly,  and  compares  laboriously,  and 
questions  fearlessly,  the  wonderful  works,  as 
well  as  the  revealed  mysteries  of  God  ;  the 
love  of  will,  by  which  obedience  is  delightful, 
and  the  soul  mounts  on  wings  to  its  errands 
of  mercy  ;  the  love  of  spirit,  whereby  the  soul 
listens  to  God,  speaks  to  Him,  understands  Him, 
delights  in  Him,  and  in  His  word  and  sacra- 
ments. This  is  the  love  He  claims,  the  love 
we   must  give   Him,    if  we    have    the    slightest 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  15 

wish  to  pay  Him  what   wc  owe  Him,  while  the 
ages  last. 


Ill 
THE  JEANS  IN  FRONT 

Haw  long  have  I  to  livet—2  Samuel  xix.  34. 

r~PHlS  question  from  the  lips  of  an  old  man, 
with  the  most  and  the  best  of  his  life  be- 
hind him,  was  neither  petulant  nor  cynical. 
David  had  made  a  gracious  and  honourable  pro- 
posal, but  it  did  not  occur  to  him  that  he  was 
bound  to  accept  it,  merely  because  it  was  made. 
A  greater  than  David,  who  has  graciously  pro- 
mised to  guide  us  with  His  eye,  will  never  be 
displeased  at  us  when  we  come  to  a  place  where 
are  the  dividings  of  the  ways  of  our  life's  jour- 
ney, if  we  wait,  and  think,  and  pray  before  we 
venture  to  go  on. 

There  is  a  wrong  way  of  asking  this  question,  The  wrong 
and  there  is  a  right  way.  It  is  wrong,  for*^^^ 
instance,  to  ask  it  curiously,  inquisitively,  and 
in  a  spirit  of  presumption,  which  would  force 
the  barriers  that  God  has  placed  in  front  of  us, 
in  a  mercy  which  has  many  ramifications  of 
tenderness.  The  young  know  that  they  must 
die  presently  ;  the  old  that  they  will  die  soon  ; 
this  is  all,   and  this  is  enough.     To  complain  of 


ib  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

injustice  or  unkindness  because  we  cannot  ascer- 
tain beforehand  the  time  we  have  to  live,  is  to 
betray  a  curious  ignorance  of  human  nature. 
Saintly  Bishop  Ken  has  shown  us  in  one  verse 
of  his  Evening  Hymn  the  blessed  secret  of  peace 
and  watchfulness  : 

Teach  me  to  live  that  1  may  dread 
The  grave  as  little  as  my  bed. 
Teach  me  to  die,   that  so  I  may 
Rise  glorious  at  the  awful  day. 

It  is  wrong  to  ask  it  in  a  frivolous,  or  reck- 
less, or  self-indulgent  spirit,  as  if  life  were  so 
long  and  death  so  distant  that  the  mere  thought 
of  it  is  a  gratuitous  intrusion  on  our  innocent 
joy.  Life,  no  doubt,  when  we  are  in  our  teens 
seems  endless.  If  we  live  to  old  age,  the  fact 
that  we  have  lived  so  long  encourages  us  to  hope 
that  we  may  live  still  longer.  But  it  is  ever 
becoming  shorter,  and  the  narrow  peninsula  on 
which  each  human  soul  is  standing  is  incessantly 
being  washed  away  by  the  resistless  tide  of  the 
surrounding  eternity.  The  great  Augustan  poet 
touched  the  heart  of  mankind  by  his  exquisite 
lament  over  young  Marcellus.  Yet  in  some 
pagan  nations — China  is  an  instance — we  do 
not  observe  that  horror  of  death  which  the  writer 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  pathetically 
describes  as  a  condition  of  bondage.  The 
reason  no  doubt  is,  that  where  there  is  nothing 
better  than  materialism   to  instruct,  or  elevate, 


THE  PERSONAL  1.1 1  I  17 

or  console  the  moral  nature,  death  is  but  a  leap 
into  an  abyss.  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
to-morrow  we  die."  The  Christian  is  destined 
for  higher  things,  and  should  live  in  the  strength 
of  nobler  promises.  "  My  times  are  in  God's 
hands  "  is  the  one  thought  which  gives  peace, 
dignity,  and  hope.  Until  our  Master  summons 
us,  not  a  hair  of  our  head  can  perish,  not  a 
moment  of  our  life  be  snatched  from  us.  When 
He  sends  for  us,  it  should  seem  but  the  message 
that  the  child  is  wanted  at  home. 

Once  more,  it  is  wrong  to  ask  it  pusillani- 
mously,  in  lack  of  nerve  and  resoluteness  for 
enduring  the  trials  which  may  yet  be  in  store 
for  us,  or  of  robust  and  manly  diligence  in 
grappling  with  the  duties  for  which  time  seems 
insufficient  and  vigour  gone.  There  is  a  great 
deal  of  irritating  if  unconscious  unrealit}'  in  the 
way  in  which  some  people  speak  about  their 
death,  as  if  life  had  ceased  to  have  any  interest 
for  them,  and  about  their  capacities,  as  if  with 
three-score  years  and  ten  the  term  of  their 
usefulness  was  past.  Such  people,  however, 
the  moment  \X\ey  are  really  ill,  send  for  their 
physician,  and  do  all  they  can  to  avert  and 
retard  the  foe,  whom  they  once  affected  to 
despise.  Perhaps  also  if  they  were  to  hear 
from  a  neighbour's  lips  that  depreciation  of  even 
their  physical  powers  which  they  gratuitously 
volunteer,  they  might  resent  it,  and  quickly  show 
it    to  be  otherwise.      Let  us  be  men,   and   make 

B 


1 8  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  best  of  ourselves,  and  live  as  long  as  we  can 
and  be  young  to  the  last.  Few  things  are  more 
exhilarating,  I  might  say  inspiring,  than  the  sight 
of  a  man  or  woman  full  of  years,  yet  not  suffering 
otiose  habits  to  grow  on  them,  never  affecting 
the  airs  of  youth,  yet  never  exaggerating  the 
infirmities  of  age  ;  ever  in  affectionate  sympathy 
with  the  young ;  entering  with  intelligent  and 
sincere  interest  into  the  politics,  and  literature, 
and  social  and  religious  movements  of  the  day  ; 
not  talking  much  of  death,  but  quietly  recognising 
that  it  may  be  imminent  ;  living  in  the  fear  and 
presence  of  the  risen  Saviour,  knowing  that  to 
depart  and  be  with  Him  is  best  of  all. 
The  right  The  right  way  of  asking  it  is  to  ask  it 
asking  it.     solemnly,  prudently,  cheerfully,  penitently. 

Solemnly  ;  for  life  is  a  great  trust,  and  our 
eternity  will  hang  on  the  acts  and  duties  and 
motives  and  principles  of  our  time  here.  "  Be 
not  deceived,  God  is  not  mocked.  Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."  The 
wisdom  with  which  we  shall  then  be  tardily 
wise,  the  regrets  with  which  we  shall  look  back 
on  wasted  hours  and  lost  opportunities,  the  sense 
of  the  misery  and  shamefulness  of  sin,  the  horror 
at  having  made  our  brother  to  stumble  through 
tempting  him  to  evil, — all  these  things  will  visit 
us,  it  may  be,  when  life  is  ebbing,  not  to  over- 
whelm us  with  despair,  but  to  show  us  the 
power  of  the  precious  blood  which  alone  can 
cleanse    us,    and    the    redeeming    love    of  Him 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  19 

who  casts  our  sins  into  the  deptli  of  the 
sea. 

We  must  ask  it  prudently,  for  we  are  citizens 
of  two  worlds,  and  while  the  one  to  which  we 
go  is  the  better  of  the  two,  it  does  not  follow 
that  we  are  to  be  blind  to  the  interests  or 
responsibilities  of  the  other.  For  the  sake  of 
his  family,  as  well  as  of  his  own  peace  of  mind, 
a  man  with  not  many  years  in  front  will  pause 
before  he  builds  a  new  house,  or  enters  on  lia- 
bilities which  he  may  not  live  to  discharge,  or 
commits  himself  to  enterprises  which  may  cripple 
or  burden  his  children,  or  risk  fatigue  and 
exposure  which  unrelenting  nature  will  most 
assuredly  punish.  It  is  not  pleasant  to  go  about 
with  clipped  wings,  or  in  closed  carriages  to 
avoid  night  air ;  to  be  cautious,  even  fanciful, 
about  diet.  But  "  How  long  have  I  to  live  ?  " 
is  a  question  which  has  its  practical  meaning 
for  some  of  us.  If  we  forget  it  we  shall  smart 
for  our  forgetting,  and  it  will  be  of  our  own 
earning. 

Cheerfully  ;  for  we  know  in  whom  we  have 
believed,  and  that  He  is  able  to  keep  that  which 
we  have  committed  unto  Him  against  that  day. 
Cheerfulness,  however,  always  depends  upon 
faith.  Few  things  are  sadder  than  the  deep, 
almost  irritable,  depression  whicli  creeps  over 
some  men  when  they  are  nearing  their  end  and 
they  feel  they  have  no  compensation  for  what 
they   must    leave  behind    them.      It   is   true,   of 


20  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

course  (the  fact  is  even  sadder,  though  there  is 
an  element  of  nobleness  in  it),  that  some  natures 
are  curiously,  and  almost  obstinately,  protected 
against  apprehension  of  the  future.  They  say 
they  will  take  their  chance  and  face  what  comes 
of  it.  To  the  Christian,  while  the  thought  of 
death  sometimes  brings  a  sinking  and  a  tremor, 
and  a  tender  thought  of  those  who  will  say  to 
us,  "Do  not  go,  do  not  go,  we  cannot  live 
without .  you,"  the  presence,  the  vision  of  Christ 
will  be  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.  "  Lord, 
now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace, 
for  mine  eyes  have  seen  Thy  salvation." 

Once  more,  let  us  ask  it  in  humility  and 
penitence.  Amid  the  ardent,  but  not  always 
judiciously  proportioned,  declarations  of  the  free- 
ness  of  a  present  forgiveness  to  those  who  be- 
lieve, there  is  a  grave  danger  in  treating  sin  as 
if  it  were  less  exceeding  sinful  than  the  word  of 
God  and  the  cross  of  Christ  declare  it  to  be, 
and  in  narrowing  faith  to  the  limit  of  a  throb 
of  excited  feeling,  rather  than  making  it  the 
united  action  of  all  the  spiritual  faculties  of  man. 
Where  there  is  shallow  repentance  there  must 
be  perilous  reaction.  As  we  ask  ourselves, 
"  How  long  have  I  to  live  ?  "  let  us  recollect  and 
confess  how  little  we  have  made  of  the  years 
that  are  irrecoverably  behind  us,  how  dumb  our 
lips  have  been  for  God,  how  small  and  scanty 
our  sacrifices,  how  dull  and  stunted  our  devo- 
tion.     We  may  not  have  dishonoured  Him,  but 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  21 

how  feebly  have  we  glorified  Him;  and  life  is 
slipping  away,  and  the  bend  in  the  road  may  be 
at  hand,  where  we  shall  see  the  light  flashing 
over  the  waves  of  the  dark  river,  and  the  battle- 
ments of  the  city  of  our  King  rising  against 
the  sky.  Oh,  that  our  purpose  may  be  to 
"  redeem  the  time  because  the  days  are  evil !  " 
Oh,  that  our  prayer  may  be,  "  So  teach  us  to 
number  our  days  that  we  may  apply  our  hearts 
unto  wisdom  !  " 


IV 
LIFE  LONG  AND  SHORT 

.Ire  there  not  twelve  hours  in  the  day  .' — John  xi.  9. 

'"PHE  apostles  were  alarmed  for  Christ's  life. 
He  had  gone  across  Jordan,  when  the 
Jews  sought  to  take  Him,  for  the  hour  of  His 
full  sorrow  had  not  yet  come.  He  had  just 
announced  His  intention  of  returning,  and  they 
were  filled  with  dismay.  "  Master,  the  Jews  of 
late  sought  to  stone  Thee,  and  goest  Thou 
thither  again  ? "  Observe  the  calmness  and 
distinctness  of  the  reply.  It  came  to  this.  For 
every  man,  for  me  as  well  as  for  you,  the  blessed 
will  of  God  has  ordained  a  life-plan  which  he  is 
to  accomplish,  a  work  which  he  is  to  do  in  ac- 
complishing it,  a  time  which  will   be   given   him 


22  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

for  doing  it.  Every  life-plan,  and  life-work,  and 
life-period  is  absolutely  distinct  from  every  other. 
Time,  as  it  proceeds,  will  make  each  of  them 
plain.  Wait  for  them  to  be  made  plain,  and  be 
ready  and  obedient  for  the  summons.  "  I  must 
work  the  work  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  while  it  is 
day."  Part  of  that  work  is  to  return  into  Judea 
and  visit  Bethany.  What  light  is  to  bodily 
action,  opportunity  is  to  dutiful  will.  The  light 
departs  and  returns  not  until  the  morning,  the 
opportunity  once  gone  is  as  water  spilt  on  the 
ground,  which  cannot  be  gathered  up.  "Are 
there  not  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ? "  I  must 
use  those  hours.      "  The  night  cometh." 

One  or  two  preliminary  reflections  it  may  be 
convenient  to  offer  here,  before  more  closely 
examining  our  Lord's  words. 

First,  the  twelve  hours  are  always  a  varying 
quantity,  with  one  man  meaning  eighty  years, 
with  another  sixty,  with  another  thirty.  God 
keeps  to  Himself  the  precise  number  of  the 
hours,  which  in  His  wise  and  just  sovereignty 
He  allots  to  the  individual.  All  that  Christ 
means  is  that  each  man  has  his  own  .allotted 
time,  and  that  it  is  precious,  and  fleeting,  and 
irrevocable.  Then  surely  He  meant  to  say  that, 
just  as  through  all  the  day  while  it  lasts,  there 
is  daylight  in  which  to  go  about  our  duty,  and 
transact  our  affairs,  and  visit  our  friends,  and 
fulfil  our  service ;  though  in  the  winter  time 
there     is    less    light    than   in    the   summer,   and 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  23 

though  in  sunshine  and  under  bright  skies  the 
duty  is  easier  and  plcasanter  than  in  gloom  or 
fog  ;  the  true  servant  of  God  is  never  justified 
in  forgetting  that  whether  he  eats,  or  drinks, 
or  sits  down,  or  rises  up,  he  is  to  glorify  God 
in  his  body,  and  in  his  spirit,  which  are  God's. 
Now  and  then  there  will  be  great  and  unusual 
openings,  clear  voices  from  on  high  beckoning 
us  on  ;  but  life  for  the  most  part  is  made  up 
of  the  quiet  monotony  of  homely  and  level  tasks, 
of  domestic  and  family  relationships ;  of  duty 
to  equals  as  well  as  inferiors,  of  quiet  and  yet 
dignified  self-government  amid  the  wear  and 
tear  and  smooth  routine  of  home.  There  are 
twelve  hours  in  the  day,  and  twelve  are  enough. 
Of  two  things  we  may  be  quite  sure.  That 
God  in  His  righteousness  is  pledged  to  give  us 
abundant  time  for  the  "  good  works,  which  He 
has  before  ordained  that  we  should  walk  in 
them."  Also  that  if  we  choose  to  do  what  He 
has  not  ordained  us  to  do,  either  less  or  more, 
bigger  or  smaller,  it  is  our  own  presumption, 
not  His  injustice,  that  we  should  blame,  if  we 
have  not  sufficient  time  for  properly  doing  them, 
and  so  they  are  not  done.  Christ's  twelve  hours, 
so  far  as  His  ministry  was  concerned,  lasted  per- 
haps three  years,  or  four  at  the  utmost.  (John 
Baptist's  may  have  been  six  months.)  Yet  before 
He  suffered,  He  could  say,  "  1  have  glorified 
Thee  on  the  earth."  As  He  died,  He  said,  "  It  is 
finished."      But  though  the  twelve  hours  allotted 


24  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

to  us  are  sufficient,  they  are  only  twelve,  and 
are  not  more  than  we  need.  Our  Lord  evidently 
felt  the  time  to  be  short.  Though  the  eternal 
Son,  "  the  Ancient  of  Days,"  He  voluntarily 
submitted  Himself  for  our  sakes  to  its  limita- 
tions. "  I  must  work  the  work  of  Him  which 
sent  Me  while  it  is  day."  He  felt  there  was 
only  one  day  for  Him,  with  but  twelve  hours 
in  it.  It  is  not  the  length  of  life,  it  is  the 
quality  of  it,  that  glorifies  God.  Sometimes  a 
life  of  thirty  years  is  of  more  significance  to 
the  race  and  more  honour  to  God  than  a  life  of 
ninety. 

There  are  twelve  hours  in  the  day  ;  and 
some  of  them  are  already  gone ;  and  we  do 
not  know  how  many  are  yet  left  to  us.  Some- 
times, no  doubt,  to  those  who  are  in  the  autumn 
of  life,  it  may  be  depressing  and  discouraging 
to  reflect  that  there  is  so  little  time  remaining 
in  front  of  them.  "Is  it  worth  while?"  is  a 
question  often  intruding  itself  on  the  judgment 
of  the  Christian  who  feels  himself  to  be  de- 
scending the  western  slope  of  the  hill.  The 
question  has  a  noble  side  and  a  base  side.  If 
it  is  a  plain  duty,  and  one  which  will  not  bear 
deferring,  and  one  which  a  younger  or  stronger 
person  would  undoubtedly  set  himself  to  begin 
or  be  thankful  to  finish,  one  of  two  alternatives 
must  be  chosen,  and  at  once.  Either  he  must 
manfully,  cheerfully,  thoroughly  grasp  it,  thank- 
ful  to   be  allowed  to   have  any  share  in  it  at  all, 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  25 

honoured  if  he  has  the  harder  share  in  laying  but 

the  foundation  on  which  others  may  rear  the 
edifice  ;  or,  he  must  decline  to  stop  the  Church's 
work  by  filling  a  place  he  is  no  longer  com- 
petent to  fill  ;  and  he  should  resign  it  to 
others. 

There  are  twelve  hours  in  the  day,  and  when 
they  are  gone  "  the  night  cometh."  It  comes  in 
various  ways, — sometimes  in  forced  inaction, 
sometimes  in  waning  strength,  sometimes  in 
wasting  sickness,  sometimes  in  indecisiveness 
and  nervelessness  of  purpose ;  at  last,  and  in- 
evitably, in  death.  Then  the  working  day  is 
over,  and  the  rest  is  come,  and  so  far  as  this 
world  is  concerned  the  books  are  sealed  and 
the  record  finished. 

Now  the  labourer  s  task  is  o'er, 

Now  the  battle  day  is  past ; 
Now  upon  the  farther  shore 
Lands  the  voyager  at  last. 
Father,  in    Thy  gracious  keeping 
Leave  we  now  Thy  servant  sleeping. 

It  is  a  reasonable,  a  searching,  an  urgent,  a.  The  results 
solemn  thought  for  each  of  us,  When  my  twelve  °four  l,,c' 
hours  are  over,  what  shall  I  have  to  show  for 
them  ?  When  in  judgment  Jesus  stands  on  the 
shore  as  of  old,  and  says,  "  Bring  of  the  fish  which 
ye  have  now  caught,"  shall  we  have  anything  to 
bring  Him  ;  spoils  of  His  cross,  wandering  sheep 
whom  we  went  out  into  the  wilderness  to  seek, 


26  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

and  went  on  seeking  till  we  found  them,  and 
brought  back  on  our  shoulders  rejoicing,  and 
placed  them  in  the  good  Shepherd's  fold  ?  Shall 
we  leave  any  behind  us  to  miss  us  ?  Have  we 
earned  any  to  welcome  us — saved  souls,  who  will 
be  to  us  a  joy  and  a  crown  of  rejoicing  at  the 
marriage  of  the  Lamb  ? 

It  is  true  that  no  one  uses  all  his  twelve 
hours.  No  one  can  say,  as  the  Master  said,  "  I 
have  finished  the  work  which  Thou  gavest  Me 
to  do  " — meaning  all  the  work  ;  no  one  who  really 
works  but  is  conscious  of  the  imperfection  and 
unworthiness  of  his  duty  ;  no  one  who  loves  to 
work  in  the  fear,  presence,  and  under  the  wel- 
comed gaze  of  Christ,  but  wonders,  with  an 
astonishment  in  which  humility  and  thankfulness 
strangely  mingle,  how  God  could  ever  endure  to 
use  one  so  unworthy  for  duty  so  full  of  honour 
and  of  bliss.  The  truth  remains,  that  while  our 
Lord  does  not  desire  fussy,  or  egotistical,  or  self- 
important,  or  self-absorbed  workers,  who  con- 
trive to  impress  society  with  the  conviction  not 
only  that  they  are  indispensable  to  the  Church, 
but  that  they  are  the  only  people  who  are  really 
working  for  it  ;  He  does  seek,  and  love,  and 
use,  and  honour  the  diligent,  the  humble,  the 
persevering,  the  cheerful,  the  self-denying,  the 
devout  disciple,  who  serves  the  Lord  not  for 
praise  but  for  love ;  not  because  he  must,  but 
because   he    cannot    help  himself;   who  is  sur- 


THE  PERSONAL  LIFE  27 

prised,  not  to  say  mortified  and  even  vexed, 
by  too  much  public  laudation,  the  secret  of 
whose  service  is  gratitude  for  the  cross,  and 
his  reward  the  presence  and  the  image  of  the 
Lord. 


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Corporate  life  is  God's  great  instrument  in  the  edification 
of  character. — R.  Ottlf.y. 


THE  ANXIETIES  OE  LOVE 

What  manner  of  child  shall  this  be  f—  LUKE  i.  66. 

THIS  question  has  again  and  again  been 
asked  by  all  sorts  of  parents  about  all 
sorts  of  children  ever  since  the  world  began, — 
over  Cain  and  over  David,  over  Tiberius  and 
over  St.  Paul,  over  Alexander  Borgia  and  over 
Martin  Luther,  over  John  Wesley  and  over 
Voltaire.  The  best  and  the  worst  of  mankind 
have  had  their  time  of  innocence  and  beauty  ; 
have  been  welcomed,  caressed,  loved,  talked 
over  by  those  who  cared  more  for  them  and 
deserved  more  from  them  than  any  one  else  in 
the  world.  If  in  some  respects  it  is  a  useless 
question,  for  time  is  indispensable  for  a  full 
answer  to  it,  and  those  who  ask  it  may  have 
disappeared  long  before  the  answer  is  ready,  it 
is  full  of  nature  and  pathos.  Nay,  where  there 
goes  with  it  an  intelligent  appreciation  of  a 
parent's    responsibility,   not   to  ask   it  means  to 


ones/ ions 


32  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

be     quite     unworthy     of    the     blessing     of     a 
child. 
Tin-  two  Two  questions  meet  us  here. 

What  goes  to  the  making  a  child  to  be  what 
Christian  parents  ought  to  wish  him  to  be  ? 

What  share  in  that  making  is  within  a  parent's 
power  ? 

Four  things  at  least  go  to  the  making  of  a 
child.  Its  own  personality.  The  home  sur- 
roundings.     The  training.      The  grace  of  God. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  every 
human  being  is  absolutely  distinct  from  every 
other,  in  mental  capacity,  in  turn  and  shape 
of  disposition,  in  tastes  and  gifts,  in  physical 
nature.  This  comes  in  the  sovereign  inevitable 
providence  of  Almighty  God  ;  and  we  must 
take  it  as  we  find  it,  and  make  the  best  of  it. 
The  home  surroundings  make  an  enormous  dif- 
ference to  a  child's  future,  whether  in  material 
or  immaterial  things.  The  house  in  which  it  lives, 
the  comforts  or  the  discomforts,  the  abundance 
or  the  penury,  the  healthiness  or  the  squalor  of 
its  daily  lot  ;  the  protection  from  coarse  temp- 
tation or  the  liability  to  it,  the  suitableness  or 
the  unsuitableness  of  its  social  environment,  arc 
all  powerful  if  invisible  factors  in  its  growth 
and  moral  development,  all  gravely  influence  its 
future. 

The  training  is  of  unspeakable  moment. 
This,  be  it  observed,  is  something  more  than  the 
individual    instruction,  the    quiet    vigilance,   the 


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occasional  correction,  the  parental  tenderness, 
which,  perhaps  too  hopefully,  ma}'  be  assumed 
as  a  matter  of  course.  It  includes  the  atmo- 
sphere of  the  home,  in  the  tone  of  its  conversa- 
tion, in  the  aim  of  its  ambitions,  in  the  spirit 
of  its  pursuits,  in  the  scope  of  its  activities. 
Where  from  Monday  morning  to  Saturday  night 
the  main  subjects  of  domestic  interest  or  family 
talk  arc  money-making,  or  frivolous  pleasure,  or 
the  affairs  of  neighbours,  or  personal  gossip,  such 
atmosphere  is  absorbed  into  all  the  innermost 
tissues  of  the  child's  spirit,  and  what  the  parents 
are  the  children  are  likely  to  become. 

Nothing  does  more  for  or  against  the  moral, 
intellectual,  religious  level  of  a  family  than  the 
ordinary  conversation  at  meal-times  or  in  the 
home  evening  hours.  It  is  not  books  that 
mould  character  ;  it  is  speech.  Then  there  is 
the  grace  of  God,  promised  at  baptism,  given 
again  and  again  to  the  receptive  heart  in  the 
opening  years,  which  godly  parents  ask  God, 
by  the  m:ghty  plea  of  His  FatherhooJ,  continu- 
ally to  give  to  the  children  of  the'r  home,  and 
of  which  they  themselves  may  be  the  conduits 
and  channels  in  more  ways  than  they  suspect. 
"  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am."  What 
was  true  of  an  apostle  is  equally  true  of  the 
humblest  child  of  God.  It  is  equally  true — why 
arc  we  so  unmindful  of  it  and  indifferent  to  it  ? 
— that  our  Father  which  is  in  Heaven  gives 
I  lis  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him. 

c 


34 


QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 


What  is 

impossible 
to  do. 


What  is 
possible. 


Now  let  us  observe  what  it  is  we  cannot  do 
either  with  or  for  our  children.  If  a  sense  of 
helplessness  is  a  fatal  extreme  on  one  side,  the 
presumption  which  springs  from  ignorance  is 
almost  as  fatal  on  the  other.  To  know  our 
limitations  is  ever  the  first  condition  of  success. 

We  cannot  make  a  child  to  order.  Most  of 
us  would  like  to  be  able  to  do  so,  and  a  curious 
creature  we  should  make  of  it,  if  we  tried.  God 
in  I  lis  kindness  and  wisdom  reserves  this  pre- 
rogative to  Himself.  We  cannot  abrogate  or 
repeal  the  awful  law  of  heredity.  While  we  do 
not  bear  the  moral  punishment  of  our  parents' 
sins,  we  continually  suffer  the  consequences  of 
them,  whether  in  vicious  propensities,  personal 
habits,  or  physical  disease.  We  cannot,  at  any 
rate  after  a  certain  age,  lock  a  child  up  in  a 
glass  case.  If  we  choose  to  do  so,  it  is  usually 
bad  for  the  glass  case,  but  much  worse  for  the 
child.  Nor  can  we  padlock  a  child's  mind.  Any 
real  or  continuous  effort  to  conceal  from  his 
awakening  and  growing  faculties  the  laws  of  the 
universe,  the  melancholy  facts  of  the  world,  the 
existence  of  unbelief,  and  the  divisions  of 
Christendom,  will,  supposing  he  has  a  mind  to 
be  padlocked,  only  compel  a  woful  "  Nemesis 
of  faith,"  when  the  padlock  is  forced  open. 

There  is,  however,  much  that"  we  can  do,  and 
which  God  expects  us  to  do.  Let  us  do  it,  and 
with  our  might.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
so   much    is    absolutely  out   of  our    power,  with 


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sons  even  in  their  boyhood,  and  with  daughters 
when  they  exchange  their  lather's  house  for  their 
husband's  ;  notwithstanding  also  the  fact  that 
some  parents  are  so  incredibly  careless,  indolent, 
incautious,  even  reckless  with  their  children  (we 
think  with  a  shudder  of  the  deliberate  education 
into  evil  that  spoiled  the  nature  and  blighted  the 
career  of  Charles  James  Fox),  there  is  no  nobler 
opportunity,  no  more  awful  talent,  no  loftier 
or  blesseder  duty,  than  that  of  nurturing  and 
training  a  Christian  child  in  the  love  and  fear 
of  God.  By  our  own  life  and  example  and 
conversation  \vc  can  make  a  good  soil  for  the 
young  plant  to  grow  in,  and  set  a  high  ideal 
of  motive  and  principle  and  duty  before  the  eyes 
of  the  young  heart,  which  see,  admire,  love,  and 
absorb  without  knowing  it. 

From  the  earliest  dawn  of  moral  consciousness 
— far  earlier  than  many  parents  either  suspect 
or  care — we  can  begin  to  train  and  discipline 
and  rule.  A  child  cannot  be  too  soon  taught 
two  things — to  obey,  and  to  deny  itself.  We 
can  give  them  the  great  baptismal  privilege,  and 
admit  them  into  the  household  of  faith,  and  make 
them  free  of  the  Church's  privileges,  and  so 
have  an  irresistible  claim  on  the  faithfulness  of 
God. 

We  can  always  give  them  sympathy,  and 
intercession,  and  love  ;  and  wherever  they  are, 
ami  whatever  becomes  of  them,  they  cannot, 
while  they  live,  be  out  of  the  reach  of  God. 


36  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  Dm 

II 
A   PARENTS   COMPLAINT 

Son,  why  hast  thou  thus  dealt  with  us  t — LUKE  ii.  40. 

T  T  were  useless,  even  dishonest,  to  pretend 
that  the  Lord's  mother  was  not  seriously 
disappointed  with  Him  ;  nay,  if  the  word  had 
not  a  disrespectful  sound  with  it,  we  might  he 
bold  to  say  that  she  was  vexed.  Certainly  He 
defended  Himself  with  a  warmth  which  implied 
that  some  injustice  had  been  done  Him.  It  is 
clear,  however,  that  great  indulgence  must  be 
shown  in  our  criticism  of  her  conduct.  She  was 
weary  with  long  searching,  unnerved  by  serious 
anxiety,  and  (for  she  was  a  woman  after  all) 
somewhat  discomposed  at  finding  that  the  dearly 
loved  Child,  about  whose  safety,  and  even  life, 
her  motherly  fancy  (as  is  the  way  with  mothers) 
had  conjured  up  even  dismal  forebodings,  was 
safe  and  happy  and  diligently  employing  Himself, 
apparently  without  any  consciousness  of  the 
uneasiness  she  was  suffering  on  account  of  Him, 
or  any  notion  that  it  was  other  than  right  and 
suitable  for  Him  to  be  there.  The  recollection 
of  a  past  oi  unbroken  dutifulness,  flawless  inno- 
cence, ineffable  love  did  not  come  to  reassure  her 


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of  His  motive  and  rectitude,  as  we  gently  think 
it  might  have  clone.  It  simply  placed  in  mure 
vivid  contrast  with  all  she  had  hitherto  known 
of  Him  this  first  act  of  self-emancipation  from 
her  control.  In  the  overwhelming  emotion  of 
the  moment  she  lost  her  balance.  We  neither 
revere  nor  love  her  the  less  for  acting  as  any 
true  woman  must  have  acted,  and  as  all  of  us 
might  almost  have  been  glad  to  have  acted 
ourselves. 

The  incident  itself,  however,  is  full  of  interest 
and  importance  for  the  government  of  a  Christian 
home.  While  of  course  it  has  a  unique  interest 
as  an  event  in  that  earlier  history  of  our  Lord, 
of  which  we  are  permitted  to  know  so  little,  it 
also  disphrys  Him  as  the  type  and  ideal  for 
opening  youth,  as  well  as  for  ripened  manhood. 
In  this  incident,  as  in  every  other  of  His  life 
which  the  Holy  Ghost  has  recorded  for  us,  He 
"has  left  us  an  example,  that  we  should  follow 
in  His  steps." 

i.  There  are  stages,  epochs,  crises  of  growth  Important 
and  progress  in  the  spirit  as  well  as  in  the  body  / 
of  man  to  be  expected,  appreciated,  and  recog- 
nised as  they  occur.  The  laws  of  our  moral  as 
well  as  of  our  physical  nature  are  inexorable 
and  benignant.  We  must  neither  lament,  nor 
resent,  nor  ignore,  nor  resist  them  ;  but  face, 
accept,  and  use  them  as  they  manifest  themselves 
in  the  opening  years. 

2.     Occasionally    there   will     he   an     apparent 


38  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

suddenness  in  their  manifestation.  Ripeness 
will  seem  to  come  all  at  once.  There  will  be  a 
sudden  spring  from  April  to  June  in  the  soul. 
The  secret  fancy  has  been  dreaming,  the  will 
maturing,  the  nature  discovering  itself,  while  the 
parent  knew  not  of  it.  It  seems  as  if  a  mine 
had  been  sprung  on  him,  and  a  sense  of  unfair- 
ness goes  with  it.  This  is  natural,  but  unreason- 
able. Nature  cannot  wait  for  us  until  we  choose 
to  open  our  eyes  and  say  we  are  read}'.  When 
the  blossom  sets  the  fruit  appears.  There  is  no 
sin  in  this.      It  cannot  be  otherwise. 

3.  The  fact  that  surprise,  or  disappointment, 
or  even  pain  results  from  it,  is  not  of  necessity 
through  any  fault  of  the  child.  Who  besides 
Mary  would  dare  to  think  a  doubtful  thought 
of  Jesus  ?  Probably  she  soon  regretted  her 
momentary  if  natural  heat.  Certainly  it  often 
does  happen  with  us  that  there  is  abruptness 
and  wilfulness,  and  perhaps  (delightful)  auda- 
city, from  sons  and  daughters  with  earthly 
parents.  This  is  the  accident  of  the  case,  and 
results  from  human  infirmity ;  it  in  nowise 
affects  the  essence  of  it.  That  the  parent 
feels  pain  is  perhaps  inevitable.  But  love,  and 
good  sense,  and  an  instinct  of  justice,  and  the 
compensations  that  are  in  store,  soon  heal  the 
wound. 

4.  For  if  we  deal  patiently,  and  tolerantly, 
and  large-heartedly,  and  do  not  scarify  with  too 
much    pungency    the    eager   and    almost   boyish 


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dogmatism  which  with  so  much  charming  auda- 
city settles  all  the  problems  under  the  sun, 
and  harmonises  the  sciences,  and  expounds  the 
politics,  and  arranges  the  affairs  of  the  universe, 
the  silly  season  passes,  and  other  and  rougher 
hands  than  ours  put  long  and  sharp  pins  into 
the  bladders  of  self-conceit  which  our  boys  and 
girls  arc  wont  to  blow  up  ;  and  when  they  subside, 
as  they  usually  do,  they  are  grateful  to  us  for  not 
having  too  much  made  them  absurd  in  their  own 
eyes,  while  we  have  pleasantly  smiled  in  our 
hearts,  with  no  bitterness  in  the  smile.  Youth, 
with  all  its  disdains,  and  caprices,  and  conceits, 
and  gasconadings,  is  still  the  leverage  of  the 
world,  is  still  the  most  lovable  and  beautiful 
thing  in  it. 

5.  Let  us  remember  that  a  real  love  of  know- 
ledge is  a  noble  thing,  and  that  what  we  have 
to  do  with  the  young  is  not  to  frown  at  it,  or 
hinder  it,  or  be  frightened  at  it,  but  to  encourage  it 
thankfully,  and  to  watch  it,  with  eyes  half  closed, 
that  we  may  direct  it  judiciously.  The  greatest 
safeguard  for  the  young  amid  the  quicksands  and 
trials  of  opening  manhood  is  to  have  a  taste,  an 
occupation,  an  accomplishment,  even  a  hobby  of 
some  sort  or  other,  if  it  only  keeps  them  during 
the  handful  of  critical  years  from  the  grosser 
stumbling-blocks.  The  pursuit  of  knowledge  no 
doubt  has  risks  of  its  own,  but  surely  they  are 
less  deadly  and  corrupting  than  those  which  are 
concerned    with    the    indulgence  of  the  senses. 


40  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Reason  is  the  highest  gift  of  God,  and  He  claims 
it  as  a  duty  that  it  be  trained  and  cultivated  for 
Him. 

6.  In  the  end,  our  self-restraint,  and  human 
kindness,  and  faith  in  God's  holy  will  shall  have 
their  reward.  We  read  of  the  blessed  Jesus 
that  "  He  went  down  with  them,  and  came  to 
Nazareth,  and  was  subject  to  them."  So,  if  we 
deserve  it,  shall  it  be  between  us  and  our  chil- 
dren in  the  end.  We  shall  lose  nothing  by 
granting  them  what  belongs  to  them,  but  we 
shall  gain  more.  They  must  be  helped,  not 
hindered,  over  that  difficult  stage  of  the  life's 
journey  which  sees  childhood  develop  into  youth, 
and  youth  into  the  independent  life.  It  is  only 
fair  to  remember  that  we,  too,  have  been  much 
as  they  are,  and  may  ourselves  occasionally 
(though  it  is  quite  forgotten  now)  have  been 
somewhat  odious,  and  moody,  and  self-opinionated, 
and  capable  of  governing  the  empire,  and  masters 
of  taste,  and  with  a  formed  opinion  on  every 
conceivable  subject  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighteen. 
We,  long  ago,  have  passed  through  it,  and  they, 
too,  will  pass  through  it,  if  we  will  give  them 
time.  Let  us  try  to  make  friends  with  them.  It 
is  not  always  possible,  but  it  is  unspeakably  wise. 
Let  us  encourage  them  to  confide  in  us.  Some- 
times they  will  take  their  confidences  to  others, 
and  only  when  strangers  have  failed,  and  the 
irreparable  blunder  is  committed,  in  their  helpless 
despair  they  entrust  their  wrecked  fortunes  to  their 


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parents.  Sometimes  all  our  love,  and  our  counsels, 
and  our  example,  and  our  patience  will  seem 
to  fail,  and  it  is  chaos.  Our  refuge  and  hope 
in  such  a  case  must  be  God,  Who  is  their  Father 
as  well  as  our  Father,  Who  has  other  ways  of 
guiding  and  healing,  and  restoring,  and  blessing 
than  are  open  to  us.  Nothing  can  take  from  us 
the  inestimable  consolation  of  casting  the  burdens 
of  our  children's  needs,  and  sins,  and  infirmities 
on  Him  to  Whom  the  whole  world  can  come  at 
the  same  moment,  and  have  a  full  hearing. 
Wherever  our  children  may  be,  whatever  they 
may  be,  we  can  always  pray  for  them.  Our 
Father  Which  is  in  Heaven  understands  the 
burdens  of  a  parent's  heart,  and  can  supply  all 
our  need  according  to  His  riches  in  glory  by 
Christ  Jesus. 


Ill 
A   CHILD'S  SELF-ASSERTIOX 

Woman,   -what  have  I  tj  do  with  theef    Mine  hour  is  no! 
yet  come. — John  ii.  4. 

T^  IGHTEEN  years  have  passed,  and  much  is 
changed.  The  youth  has  matured  into  the 
man.  The  question  is  no  longer  of  the  child's 
dutifulness,  it  has  become  that  of  the  man's 
liberty.      It   is  still  "  My  Father's  business"  that 


42  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

has  to  be  done,  but  of  a  different  kind,  and  with 
other  methods,  and  with  fresh  authorit)'.  The 
parent  has  to  learn,  what  it  is  always  so  hard  for 
the  parent  to  learn,  that  responsibility  implies 
freedom.  The  son  has  to  make  the  parent  feel, 
with  respectful  distinctness,  yet  without  a  thought 
or  intention  of  rebuff",  that  unsought  and  1111- 
needed  counsel  may  be  unjust  interference  ;  and 
that  even  a  mother's  love  must  not  invade 
liberty.  For  let  no  one  think  that  Christ's  reply 
had  any  sort  of  abruptness  in  it.  Our  Authorised 
Version,  maybe,  gives  this  impression  of  it,  but 
it  is  no  necessary  deduction  from  the  original 
text.  The  Virgin,  who  for  years  past  had  been 
observing  her  Son's  doings  and  sayings,  and 
pondering  them  in  her  heart,  had  doubtless  con- 
cluded that  a  great  crisis  had  arrived  in  His 
history,  and  that  He  was  on  the  threshold  of  His 
prophetic  career. 

Two  thoughts,  perhaps,  were  in  her  heart  at 
the  same  time — one  of  less,  the  other  of  greater 
moment ;  and  the  Lord  addressed  Himself  to  the 
The  village  greater.  There  was  a  dearth  of  wine  in  the 
modest  household,  and  she  keenly  felt  for  the 
mortification  of  her  kinsfolk.  She  also  may 
have  thought  that  the  opportunity  had  at  length 
come  for  a  great  wonder-work,  which  should  at 
once  reveal  His  glory,  and  inaugurate  His 
ministry.  One  act  would  accomplish  two  results, 
and  who  could  better  press  it  than  herself?  The 
Lord    detected  the  motive,   appreciated    the  em- 


THE  HOME  43 

barrassment,  declined  the  self-revelation,  and 
granted  the  kindness.  "  What  have  I  to  do 
with  thee  ?"  He  replied  ;  or,  as  it  may  be  more 
exactly  rendered,  "  What  is  there  between  ns  ?  " 
— a  form  of  expression  which  frequently  occurs 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  which,  with  dignity 
and  clearness,  was  to  remind  His  human  mother 
that  in  the  new  sphere  of  life  and  action  into 
which  He  had  just  passed,  though  hitherto  she 
had  known  Him  after  the  flesh,  and  counselled 
Him  as  her  first-born  Son,  she  had  henceforth 
to  know  and  counsel  Him  no  more.  Only  to 
His  Father  in  Heaven  could  He  now  go  for 
direction  and  guidance ;  earthly  ties,  human 
claims,  fleshly  affinities  had  passed  for  ever. 

But  the  reason  which,  in  His  considerate  love, 
He  gave  her,  and  the  acquiescence  which,  on 
distinctly  other  grounds,  He  granted  to  her 
petition,  were  meant  to  satisfy  her  heart,  and 
meet  her  sense  of  dignity  ;  and,  from  the  in- 
struction she  gave  to  the  servants,  He  plainly 
gave  what  she  desired.  His  time,  that  is  the 
time  of  His  public  manifestation  as  Messiah,  had 
not  yet  come.  That  peasant's  home  was  not  to 
be  the  scene  of  it,  nor  a  bridal  the  occasion  for 
it.  It  was  to  be  in  Jerusalem  presently,  and 
at  the  Passover.  The  gift,  however,  should  be 
bestowed,  and  in  abundance,  though  so  quietly 
that  only  a  handful  of  servants  knew  it  at  the 
moment,  and  perhaps  most  of  the  persons  there 
never  heard  of  it  at  all.      While  it  was  indispens- 


44  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

able  for  Him  to  resist  the  claim  of  His  mother  to 
interfere  in  the  affairs  of  His  public  ministry,  her 
delicate  solicitude  for  the  bridegroom's  honour, 
her  assurance  of  His  sympathy  with  her  in 
her  wish  to  terminate  it,  her  faith  in  His  power 
to  do  whatever  He  desired,  had  their  instant 
reward  ;  and  the  ruler  of  the  feast  soon  joyously 
commended  the  bridegroom  in  words  the  signifi- 
cance of  which  he  little  guessed,  "  Thou  hast 
kept  the  good  wine  until  now." 

There  are  two  important  lessons  we  may 
gather  for  our  home  life  from  this  critical  inci- 
dent— one  for  parents  ;  the  other  for  children, 
in  their  adult  years. 

For  parents  authoritatively  to  interfere  with 
either  the  judgment,  or  conscience,  or  personal 
affairs  of  their  children  in  mature  life  is  unjust, 
unwise,  and  extremely  hazardous.  There  may, 
of  course,  be  a  difference  of  opinion  as  to  what 
is  meant  by  mature  life  ;  but  it  is  usually  under- 
stood to  be  that  period  when  the  education  is 
finished  and  the  profession  chosen,  and  when 
before  the  law,  as  well  as  with  societ}',  personal 
independence  is  a  suitable  and  equitable  claim. 

It  is  unjust,  because  when  a  man  is  of  age 
and  has  both  to  speak  and  act  for  himself,  to 
interpose  an  authority,  necessary  and  helpful  only 
in  the  earlier  years,  is  to  usurp  a  jurisdiction 
which  does  not  exist  in  equity,  and  to  jeopardise 
an  influence  which  will  be  potent  only  so  far  as 
we  do  not  presume  on  it.      It  is  unwise,  because 


THE  HOME  45 

if  it  docs  not  excite  resentment  it  induces  per- 
plexity, and  involves  a  responsibility  which   may 

have  serious  and  unlooked-for  results.  It  is 
also  extremely  hazardous  ;  for,  in  the  early  years 
of  manhood,  characters  mature,  capacities  de- 
velop, circumstances  happen,  openings  arise  of 
which  the  well-meaning  parent  may  be  supremely 
ignorant,  but  which  entirely  alter  all  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case.  If  counsel  is  invited  the 
situation  is  different  ;  even  then,  before  it  is 
given,  it  may  be  well  to  ascertain  if  all  the  facts 
arc  before  us,  and  if  any  steps  have  already 
been  taken,  or  other  counsels  secretly  invited, 
to  vitiate  the  candour  of  the  applicant,  and  to 
mar  the  result  of  the  appeal.  The  safest  rela- 
tions between  parents  and  adult  children  arc 
those  of  unbounded  tenderness,  frank  companion- 
ship, prudent  reserve.  "Am  I  not  free?"  is 
the  suitable,  reasonable,  self-respecting  position 
of  the  child.  "  Be  free,  but  be  prudent  and 
self-restrained  in  the  use  of  thy  freedom,"  is 
the  judicious  parent's  rejoinder. 

There  is  also  a  lesson  for  the  child,  which  Ussonfa 
is  not  always  remembered,  but  which  in  justice  cll'ldrc"- 
to  the  parent  ought  to  be  remembered,  and 
acted  on  as  an  axiom  of  family  life.  He  must 
not  expect  the  concurrent  advantages  of  de- 
pendence and  independence.  He  must  not 
claim  to  go  his  own  way  just  as  he  pleases, 
neither  recognising  parental  authority  nor  in- 
viting parental   advice  ;   and   then,  when   he  has 


46  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

made  an  enormous  blunder,  and  found  all  the 
butterfly  friends  who  advised  and  pushed  him 
into  his  disasters,  to  have  disappeared,  like  sum- 
mer gnats  in  a  frost,  claim  to  go  back  to  those  who 
might  at  the  right  moment  have  wisely  advised  him 
if  he  had  cared  to  consult  them  ;  and  coolly  to 
use  them  as  if  for  them  any  sort  of  responsibility 
in  the  matter  could  be  thought  to  remain.  It  is 
very  unjust  toward  the  parent,  and  it  is  a  little 
base  in  the  child.  No  doubt  it  is  possible,  even 
probable,  where  an  error  is  honestly  confessed, 
or  a  sin  truly  repented  of,  and  proof  mani- 
fested of  honest  regret  and  hope  assured  of 
better  things  to  come,  that,  as  in  the  well-known 
parable,  the  father's  heart  relents,  and  the  home 
is  thrown  open,  and  the  fault  presently  forgotten, 
and  the  wound  finally  healed.  But  this  cannot 
happen  often.  For  the  parent  to  be  continually 
thrown  over,  and  then,  when  everything  else 
fails,  to  be  again  and  again  made  use  of,  as  too 
weak  to  deny,  too  stupid  to  discern,  or  too  fond 
to  resent,  is  not  only  an  injustice  to  the  parent, 
but  is  also  a  fatal  wound  to  the  little  that  may  be 
left  of  the  self-respect  or  integrity  of  the  child. 

There  is  usually  a  great  power  of  forgive- 
ness and  a  very  deep  well  of  tenderness  in  a 
Christian  parent's  heart,  but  it  should  neither 
be  trifled  with  nor  presumed  upon.  Pain  is  a 
divine  medicine  in  the  spiritual  regimen  of  souls, 
and  sometimes  between  man  and  man  it  is  the 
only,  the  last,  though  the   painful  resort.      It   is 


THE  HOME  47 

with  man  as  with  God,  that  sometimes  \vc  arc 
never  more  dearly  loved,  or  more  tenderly  deside- 
rated, or  more  wisely  handled,  than  when  the  face 
we  should  love  best  has  no  smile  on  it,  and  the  lips 
that  should  be  charged  with  blessing  arc  closed. 


IV 
TIES  OF  FLESH  AND  OF  SPIRIT 

Who  is  my  mother,  and  who  are  my  brethren  t — Matthew  mi.  48. 

CT.  MARK  gives  us  the  key  both  to  the  occa- 
sion and  to  the  motive  of  these  words.  A 
great  multitude  had  come  together  so  that  they 
could  not  so  much  as  eat  bread,  and  the  Lord's 
kinsmen  became  gravely  alarmed  at  it.  They 
did  not  know  what  would  be  the  end  of  all  this 
strange  excitement  ;  they  had  evidently  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  teaching,  or  claims,  or  labours  of 
Jesus  ;  they  may  have  been  really  anxious  as 
to  the  effect  that  might  be  produced  on  the  Lord 
Himself  by  the  exhausting  incessancy  of  His 
labours;  and  bringing  His  mother  with  them, 
whom  they  had  no  doubt  succeeded  in  frighten- 
ing if  not  disturbing  about  Him,  they  used  her 
name,  and  no  doubt  intended  to  borrow  her 
influence  to  induce  Him  to  relinquish  His  pur- 
pose, and  to  return  with  them  to  their  village 
home.      "  When    His   friends  heard   of    it,    they 


48  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

went  out  to  lay  hold  on  Him  :  for  they  said, 
He  is  beside  Himself."  It  was  the  tidings  of 
their  arrival,  that  drew  from  Him  this  question 
as  He  sat  in  the  midst  of  His  disciples  con- 
tending with  the  blasphemy  of  the  Scribes,  and 
certainly  it  betrays  a  pained  if  not  an  indig- 
nant surprise.  We  must  not  indeed  push  it  so 
far  as  to  infer  from  it  that  our  Lord  in  the  very 
least  degree  meant  to  depreciate  the  natural  re- 
sponsibilities of  near  kinsfolk,  or  to  repudiate  the 
claim  that  blood  relationship  may  press  for  con- 
sideration and  respect.  That  would  not  be 
justified. 

But  this  question  asserts  a  great  principle, 
infers  a  melancholy  prospect,  and  enunciates  an 
inexorable  law  of  immense  importance  both  to 
the  Church  and  the  world.  The  principle  is 
this,  that  it  is  not  privilege  so  much  as  obedience 
that  constitutes  true  kinship  to  Christ.  The 
prospect  is,  that  a  man's  foes  will  sometimes  be 
they  of  his  own  household,  and  that  in  matters 
of  religion  almost  more  than  in  any  ether  "  a 
brother  offended  is  harder  to  be  won  than  a 
strong  city."  The  law  is,  that  the  tie  of  grace 
is  closer  than  the  tie  of  blood.  Where  both 
meet  and  are  fused  into  one  indissoluble  unity, 
there  is  no  unity  under  the  sun  like  it.  But 
when  it  happens,  as  we  often  see  it  happen,  that 
the  tie  of  blood  is  not  consecrated  by  the  tic  of 
grace,  it  is  never,  and  can  never,  be  so  close, 
so  vital,    so   hallowing,    so   solemnly  tender,    as 


THE  HOME 


l" 


that  tie  which  making  both  one  in  the  unity 
of  the  Body  of  Christ  shall  live  for  ever  and 
ever. 

The  principle  contained  under  the  figure  of  The 
this  maternal  and  brotherly  relationship  is  that  /'/.'"/'£/.' 
obedience,  not  privilege,  constitutes  true  kinship 
to  Christ.  The  Lord's  family  relied  on  their 
blood  relationship  as  a  justification  for  their  inter- 
ference with  His  affairs.  But  the  Lord  altogether 
repudiated  the  claim.  Not  that  their  relationship 
to  Him  in  other  or  domestic  matters  would  have 
had  no  force  in  it.  When  He  was  dying  His 
last  thought  was  of  His  mother — His  one  care 
and  consolation  was  to  find  her  a  home.  But 
no  one,  not  even  she,  was  to  come  between  Him 
and  His  Heavenly  Father  ;  between  sinners  who 
needed  Him,  and  the  work  by  which  they  were 
to  be  redeemed.  So  we  on  our  side  are  not  to 
rest  on  our  baptismal  relationship  to  Christ, 
blessed,  and  solemn,  and  potent  though  it  may 
be,  as  if  it  could  be  any  sort  of  substitute  for 
that  faith  working  by  love,  which  is  at  once  the 
true  evidence  of  the  sacramental  privilege  stirred 
and  ripened  into  spiritual  vitality,  and  of  that 
obedience  of  which  He  has  Himself  asserted,  "If 
ye  love  Me  keep  My  commandments."  "  Holi- 
ness, without  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord," 
is  the  only  real  proof  of  loving  friendship  ;  "  he 
that  doeth  the  will  of  My  Father,  which  is  in 
Heaven,  the  same  is  My  mother,  and  sister,  and 
brother." 

D 


50  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Again,  so  far  from  blood  relations  being,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  belpers  and  promoters  of 
spiritual  duty  or  lofty  sacrifice  in  the  home  of 
which  they  are  inmates,  the  history  of  all  times 
goes  to  prove  the  very  contrary  ;  and  in  the 
persecutions  endured  for  the  faith's  sake  the 
daughter  has  risen  against  her  mother,  and  the 
father  against  his  son,  and  the  house  has  been 
divided  against  itself ;  and  the  sword  (not  of  the 
Spirit)  has  invaded  it.  We  may  have  to  choose 
between  Christ  and  some  one  who,  after  the  flesh, 
is  as  dear  to  us  as  our  own  soul.  Which  shall  we 
go  with  ?  "He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more 
than  Me  is  not  worthy  of  Me  :  and  he  that  loveth 
son  or  daughter  more  than  Me  is  not  worthy  of 
Me."  A  call  to  the  mission  field,  or  the  preference 
of  a  quiet  Christian  life  to  a  career  of  splendour 
and  fashion,  or  a  profession  which  implies  the 
reproach  of  Christ  rather  than  the  riches  of 
Egypt,  has  often  disturbed  families  and  parted 
kinsfolk.  Here,  again,  Christ's  searching  sum- 
mons is  heard,  "  Forsake  all  and  follow  Me." 

Lastly,  there  is  no  tie  so  close,  so  holy,  so 
blessed,  so  exquisitely  tender,  as  that  which  joins 
one  regenerate  soul  to  another  in  the  mystical 
body  of  Christ.  The  joy  of  the  common  salva- 
tion, the  inheritance  of  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints,  the  fellowship  in  the  Gospel,  the 
inexplicable  experience  of  the  love  which  passeth 
knowledge,  the  hope  laid  up  in  Heaven,  the 
sympathy  and  zeal  and  ardour  for  the  honour  of 


THE  HOME  51 

the  Saviour,  Who  died  for  us  and  rose  again 
these  constitute  an  unity  closer,  surer,  fonder, 
deeper  than  the  dearest  earthly  tie  which  human 
souls  can  know.  "  In  the  resurrection  there  will 
be  neither  marrying  nor  giving  in  marriage,  for 
we  shall  be  as  the  angels  of  God  in  Heaven." 
Flesh  and  blood  will  have  passed  ;  they  cannot 
inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  love,  obedi- 
ence, and  sanctity,  and  the  ties  that  spring  out 
of  them,  are  for  ever.  Death  cannot  touch  the 
life  hidden  with  Christ  in  God  ;  the  "  friend 
which  sticketh  closer  than  a  brother "  is  the 
friend  who  is  also,  and  first,  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loves. 


CHRIST    CRUCIFIED 


A  certain  human  life,  -which  cither  is  or  is  not  the  hinge 
point  of  alt  history  -whatever. — PROFESSOR  MOBERLY. 


THE  DECEITFULNESS  OF  SIN 

Who  can  understand  his  errors  .' — PSALM  xix.   12. 

THE  sense  of  sin,  the  joy  of  pardon,  and 
the  yearning  for  goodness  are  essential 
features  in  the  religion  of  Christ.  If  the  sense 
of  sin  gives  the  deepest  pain,  because  the  soul 
is  divided  against  itself  and  becomes  its  own 
accuser,  the  joy  of  pardon  is  the  sweetest  joy, 
because  it  fills  the  spirit  with  the  presence  of 
God,  discovered,  reconciled,  possessed,  and 
enjoyed.  The  yearning  for  goodness  is  the 
noblest  of  all  spiritual  longings,  it  is  so  elevating, 
so  transforming,  so  illimitable.  It  is  no  paradox 
to  affirm  that  often  where  there  is  the  least  sin 
to  confess,  there  is  the  keenest  and  saddest 
sorrow  for  it,  and  that  the  wonder  at  forgiveness 
— it  is  wonderful  and  inexplicable — is  usually 
significant  of  a  very  saintly  heart.  The  soul 
moves,  grows,  blossoms,  and  brings  forth  fruit 
just   so    far    as    its    one    desire    is   to   see    and 


56  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

resemble  God.  No  man  can  truly  thirst  for 
God  without  being  on  the  way  to  being  filled 
with  His  likeness. 

The  thought  of  the  Psalmist  in  this  passage 
is  the  difficulty  for  each  man  of  understanding 
his  sins.  Bishop  Perowne  renders  it,  "  As  for 
errors — who  can  perceive  "  (them)  ?  The  word 
"  error  "  here  is  analogous  to  the  Greek  word 
amartia,  which  gives  the  notion  of  missing  the 
mark.  It  means  straying,  wandering  from  the 
path.  There  are  sins  of  ignorance  and  of  infir- 
mity unconsciously,  unintentionally  done  through 
lack  of  self-knowledge,  or  of  jealous  vigilance 
against  the  deceits  of  the  world  and  the  snares 
of  Satan.  There  are  also  sins  of  presumption, 
done  with  deliberateness  and  hardened  pride, 
and  a  sort  of  insolence  against  God.  There 
are  also  sins  which  do  not  usually  come  earliest 
in  the  moral  history,  but  which  are  the  inevitable 
result  and  penalty  of  sins  of  carelessness  and 
infirmity  ;  and  which  imply,  nay,  sooner  or  later 
create,  that  awful  insensibility  which  is  the  sure 
symptom  of  spiritual  death,  and  for  which  no  for- 
giveness, because  no  repentance,  is  possible. 

On  the  nature  of  sin  and  the  incessancy  of 
it,  and  the  deceitfulness  of  it,  and  its  self-inflicted 
penalty,  and  last,  but  most  of  all,  on  the  blessed 
instrument  or  organ,  which  by  the  grace  of  God 
reveals  it  in  its  presence  and  hatefulness  and 
peril,  let  me  offer  a  few  words. 

The    sinfulness    of  sin   consists   in   its   being 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  57 

done  against  the  majesty  and  holiness,  and 
authority  and  love  of  God.  Not  that  we 
cannot  in  a  real  sense  offend  against  each  other. 
Sin  against  God  generally  implies  offence  against 
man.  But  it  is,  first,  and  most  and  worst,  in 
its  aspect  towards  Him.  So  much  is  this  so, 
that  when  David,  in  the  fifty-first  Psalm,  pours 
out  the  agony  of  his  soul  for  his  great  sin  with 
Uriah's  wife,  he  forgets  altogether  the  corrupted 
woman  and  the  outraged  soldier.  "  Against 
Thee,  Thee  only  have  I  sinned  and  done  this  evil 
in  Thy  sight."  The  more  we  know  of  God,  the 
more  we  shall  feel  the  depravity,  the  wickedness 
of  sin. 

The  incessancy  of  it  is  a  very  painful  and 
humbling  but  incontestable  truth.  Our  sins  of 
omission,  which  perhaps  come  most  home  to  us 
in  the  riper  years  of  the  Christian  life  ;  the  sins 
of  commission,  in  which  we  actually  violate  the 
law  of  God — were  they  to  be  brought  up  against 
us  at  the  end  of  a  single  day,  might  turn  our 
very  hair  white  with  shame  and  sorrow.  We 
are  always  sinning  in  presence  of  that  spotless 
Holiness  before  which  the  very  heavens  are  not 
clean. 

Its  deceitfulness  is  one  of  its  most  malignant 
and  dangerous  features.  We  gild  it  with  fine 
names,  we  excuse  it  by  transparent  sophistries, 
we  succumb  to  it  as  if  our  moral  power  were 
paralysed  ;  we  connive  at  it  in  others,  because 
we  may  need  indulgence  for  it  one  da}'  ourselves. 


58  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

But  to  call  good  evil  is  not  to  make  it  evil,  and 
to  call  evil  good  is  not  to  make  it  good.  Yet 
we  love  to  have  it  so,  and  God  answers  us 
according  to  the  multitude  ot  our  idols.  Never- 
theless, when  the  moral  sense  is  darkened,  it 
is  on  the  way  to  be  extinguished.  When  the 
conscience  has  lost  the  faculty  of  touch  and  taste, 
and  sight  and  hearing,  the  soul  is  dead  and  the 
sentence  is  sealed.  How,  then,  shall  we  keep 
alive  in  our  hearts  the  instinct  of  righteousness 
and  the  sorrowful  consciousness  of  having  come 
short  of  it  ;  how  shall  we  maintain  within  us  a 
true  standard  of  goodness  and  a  divine  ideal  of 
life  ;  how  shall  we  cultivate  a  sympathy  with  the 
Holy  God,  Who  cannot  bear  the  thing  that  is 
evil  ?  This  great  Psalm  shows  us  that  the  key 
of  the  secret,  and  the  instrument  for  each  of  us 
to  use  for  it,  is  the  Word  of  God.  "  The  fear 
of  Jehovah  is  clean,  standing  fast  for  ever. 
The  judgments  of  Jehovah  are  truth,  they  are 
righteous  altogether.  More  are  they  to  be 
desired  than  gold  ;  yea,  than  much  fine  gold, 
sweeter  also  than  honey,  and  the  droppings  of 
the  honeycomb.  Moreover,  thy  servant  is 
enlightened  by  them,  and  in  keeping  of  them 
there  is  great  reward."  In  the  study  and  obe- 
dience of  God's  Word  we  listen  to  His  Voice, 
we  sit  in  His  Presence,  and  the  breath  of  His 
Holiness  fills  our  spirits.  It  is  at  once  the 
revelation  of  His  Perfection  and  the  mirror  of 
our  own  sin.      To  see   Him   is  to  discover  our- 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  50 

selves.  It  is  indeed  quite  possible  to  sec  so 
much  of  Him  as  to  be  in  despair  about  ourselves, 
to  tremble  under  the  lightnings  and  thunderings 
of  Sinai.  But  in  the  Bible  there  are  promises 
as  well  as  threatenings,  a  new  covenant  as  well 
as  an  old  one.  Moses  warns  and  Jesus  dies. 
"  Thou  shalt  not  "  is  the  voice  of  the  Old 
Testament.  "  Him  that  cometh  unto  Me  I  will 
in  no  wise  cast  out  "  is  the  whisper  of  the  New. 

1 .  Would    we  feel  about    sin  as  God  would  Cautions. 
have  us  feel,  let  us  pray  earnestly  and  constantly 

for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  convince  us  of  sin,  and  to 
reveal  to  us  Jesus  ;  to  make  us  groan  under  the 
burden,  and  then  rejoice  in  the  peace.  It  is  the 
promise  of  the  Father,  a  promise  which  He 
delights  to  fulfil. 

2.  Let  us  be  on  our  guard  against  an  artificial, 
hysterical,  morbid,  self-inspecting,  pusillanimous 
remorse.  "  Being  justified  by  faith,  let  us  have 
peace  with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 
Let  penitence  come  rather  thiough  the  habitual 
contemplation  of  God  in  Christ  than  by  dwelling 
in  the  swamps  of  our  own  corrupt  nature.  To 
look  up  to  the  hills  from  whence  cometh  our 
help,  and  to  breathe  their  invigorating  air,  is  the 
secret  of  Christian  manhood. 

3.  The  sense  of  sin,  if  we  would  avoid  un- 
reality and  a  sort  of  complacency  in  our  humble- 
ness, should  ever  be  accompanied  with  a  con- 
tinuous and  strenuous  effort  to  overcome  it. 
So-called   mourning  for   sin   is   a   nauseous  and 


6o  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

perilous   affectation,  if  it  does  not   also   mean   a 
firm  resolution  to  put  it  away. 

4.  St.  Paul  never  forgot  his  past:  "who 
was  a  persecutor,  and  injurious;"  "not  meet 
to  be  called  an  apostle  because  I  persecuted  the 
Church  of  God."  Yet  he  could  also  say,  "  I 
laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all."  We 
need  not  forget  that  we  have  sinned,  if  only  we 
have  cause  to  believe  that  we  are  forgiven. 
We  may  be  perfectly  clean,  though  imperfectly 
holy. 


II 
THE  MOVING  OF  CONSCIENCE 

Lord,  is  it  I  ?— Matthew  xxvi.  22. 

A  \7 HERE  does  this  incident  occur  in  the 
narrative  of  the  Passion  ?  Most  probably 
while  the  Paschal  meal  was  still  going  on,  after 
the  washing  of  the  disciples'  feet  had  been  done 
and  the  Lord  had  resumed  His  place  among  the 
twelve.  The  humility  and  tenderness  of  that 
symbolical  act  touched  the  disciples  to  the  quick 
and  stirred  their  love  into  a  glowing  flame. 
The  Lord  had  already  asked  them  if  they  under- 
stood what  He  had  done  to  them,  had  solemnly 
impressed  that  the  thing  He  had  done  to  them 
they  should  henceforth  do  to  each  other.      Then, 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  61 

as  His  fast-nearing  Passion  came  nearer  and 
more  awful  before  His  soul,  and  the  solitariness 
of  His  anguish  as  well  as  the  baseness  of  His 
betrayal  settled  like  a  gloomy  cloud  upon  His 
heart,  the  awful  secret,  which  out  of  love  to 
them  He  had  so  long  concealed,  He  at  last  and 
reluctantly  disclosed.  To  have  disclosed  it 
sooner  would  have  been  to  inflict  a  gratuitous 
sorrow,  to  have  disclosed  all  of  it  might  have 
been  to  interfere  with  the  divine  purpose,  to  hint 
a  part  of  it  was  a  discipline  which  they  could 
not  be  spared.  "  And  as  they  did  eat  Jesus 
said,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  that  one  of  you 
shall  betray  Me.  And  they  were  exceeding 
sorrowful,  and  began  every  one  of  them  to  say 
unto  Him,  Lord,  is  it  I  ? "  The  question 
itself  indicates  a  deep  stirring  of  conscience, 
quickened  by  God.  It  is  a  question  of  which 
evciy  human  soul  at  some  time  or  other  is 
more  or  less  cognisant,  whatever  ma)'  be  the 
answer  given  to  it.  It  is  a  question  which  is 
vital  to  any  adequate  conception  either  of  the 
sinfulness  of  sin,  or  of  the  standard  of  personal 
duty,  or  of  the  ideal  walk  of  the  regenerate 
spirit  with  God. 

Let  us  first  consider  it  in  some  of  the  various  Motives. 
motives  and  intentions  with   which  a  human  soul 
may  conceivably  put    the  question  to  God  ;   and 
then    notice   some   of  the   circumstances    which 
make  it  opportune. 

Clearly  it    may  be   put  (God   protect    us   from 


62  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Their  it)  in  a  spirit  of  insolent  hardness.  Thus  Judas 
put  it.  It  is  likely,  indeed,  that  when  he  heard 
all  the  others  putting  it  he  felt  he  must  put  it 
likewise,  to  escape  the  notice  that  otherwise 
would  have  been  attracted  to  his  silence.  It  is 
more  than  likely  that  when  the  Lord  replied  to 
him,  "  Thou  hast  said,"  it  was  in  a  voice  inau- 
dible to  the  general  body  of  the  disciples,  and 
apparent,  it  may  be,  only  to  those  close  at  hand. 
But  there  was  no  honesty  in  the  question,  and 
no  repentance.  He  had  received  the  money,  and 
he  must  do  the  work  for  it.  When  he  took  the 
sop  Satan  entered  in  and  took  possession  of  his 
soul,  and  he  went  out  into  the  night.  A  man 
to  whom  sin  is  not  sinful,  to  whom  self-gratifi- 
cation is  the  law  of  his  being,  who  neither  fears 
God  nor  regards  man,  may  say,  "  Lord,  is  it  I  ?" 
But  he  will  not  care  for  an  answer,  nor  wait  to 
hear  it  given. 

It  may  be  put  also  in  a  spirit  of  shallow  and 
ignorant  levity.  "  Is  thy  servant  a  dog  that  he 
should  do  this  thing  ?  "  asked  a  king's  servant, 
perhaps  quite  sincerely.  Yet  the  moment  he  had 
the  chance  he  did  it,  for  it  opened  the  way  to 
a  throne.  We  little  know  what  possibilities  of 
good  and  also  of  evil  are  hidden  in  our  wonderful 
and  complex  nature ;  to  what  heights  of  good- 
ness we  may  rise,  into  what  abysses  of  infamy 
we  may  fall.  There  is  an  off-hand,  sturdy  way 
of  denying  and  even  resenting  the  possibilities 
of  our  weakness,  which  is  very  common  and  very 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  63 

hazardous.  "  Let  him  that  thinketh  he  standeth 
take  heed  lest  he  fall." 

It  is  also  the  question  of  a  holy  self-distrust. 
Humility  is  the  surest  test  of  saintliness.  There 
are  so  many  pitfalls  at  our  feet,  such  woful  sur- 
prises, such  mortifying  recollections  of  hopes 
disappointed,  opportunities  neglected,  duties 
omitted,  blessings  lost,  that  "  Lord,  is  it  I  ?"  is 
often  the  aching,  frightened  question  of  a  be- 
wildered though  honest  spirit,  fearful  of  losing 
itself  in  the  mazes  and  obscurities  of  its  unknown 
tendencies;  and  quite  distinct  from  the  morbid 
self-questionings  of  spiritual  egotism. 

For  there  are  circumstances  which  from  time 
to  time  suggest  if  they  do  not  compel  it ;  and 
so  sinuous  and  intricate  are  the  windings  of  the 
human  heart,  so  apt  are  even  true  natures  to  be 
deceived  by  refined  sophistries,  or  encouraged  to 
mistake  transient  emotion  for  the  continuous 
action  of  dominant  principles,  that  it  is  almost 
necessary  for  us,  if  we  would  adequately  know 
ourselves,  and  habitually  rule  ourselves,  to  be 
forced  to  find  ourselves  out  as  we  stand  in  the 
light  of  God. 

The  sight  of  a  brother's  sin  maybe  wholesome 
though  humbling  in  making  us  recognise  that 
only  by  the  grace  of  God  we  are  what  we  are. 
Had  we  been  tempted  as  he  was  tempted,  might 
not  we  have  fallen  perhaps  lower  ?  Dependence 
upon  God  is  the  one  condition  of  Christian 
steadfastness  ;   but   a    consciousness  of  our  own 


64  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

infirmity  is  the  secret  of  dependence.  Or  we  ma}' 
ourselves  have  been  exposed  to  the  fiery  trial 
of  temptation  and  been  saved,  yet  so  as  "  by 
fire."  Most  of  us  know  to  our  cost  that  to  come 
out  of  a  spiritual  conflict  means  to  have  our 
armour  battered,  our  spirit  weary,  our  self-respect 
rent  and  torn.  Our  honour  is  saved,  our  battle 
is  won,  our  Lord  confessed,  but  that  is  all.  The 
grace  has  been  sufficient,  and  the  divine  strength 
has  been  made  perfect  in  weakness.  We  never 
knew  till  now  how  strong  was  the  strength  of 
God,  how  weak  the  weakness  of  man. 

There  are  also  occasions  in  life  which,  like 
mountain  peaks  rising  out  of  a  level  plain  to 
break  its  monotony  and  form  its  landmarks,  bring 
us  face  to  face  with  hidden  corners  in  our  personal 
life,  and  make  us  feel  with  a  thrill  of  gladness 
the  good  hand  of  our  God  upon  us.  Sometimes 
it  is  a  special  mercy,  which  makes  us  wonder 
how  God  can  be  so  good  to  us. 

It  was  the  gift  of  the  miraculous  draught  of 
fishes  that  made  Simon  Peter  say  to  Christ, 
"  Depart  from  me,  for  I  am  a  sinful  man,  O 
Lord." 

It  was  Christ's  turning  and  looking  upon  the 
same  Simon  Peter,  after  he  had  thrice  denied 
"  the  Lord  who  bought  him,"  that  showed  him 
his  sin,  and  stirred  in  him  that  flood  of  bitter 
weeping,  which  meant  repentance  unto  life. 

In  conclusion,  there  is  a  clear  distinction,  which 
we   must  neither  deny  nor  evade,  between  for- 


tions. 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  65 

saking  Christ,  denying  Christ,  and  betraying 
Christ.  The  sin  of  betraying  Him  was  the 
unique  sin  of  Judas,  about  which  sin  the  holy 
lips,  that  so  often  declared  forgiveness,  solemnly 
uttered,  "  It  were  better  for  that  man  that  he 
had  never  been  born." 

To  deny  Him  is  also  frequent  enough,  and 
to  forsake  Him  and  flee  is  more  frequent  still. 
Each  of  these  sins  has  its  manifold  varieties  and 
its  woful,  saddening  phases.  Happy  the  man, 
if  he  can  be  found,  who  can  say,  and  truly  say, 
"  I  have  never  denied  Him,  never  forsaken  Him 
in  thought,  word,  or  deed." 

Whether  or  no,  however,  we  have  or  have 
not  forsaken  or  denied  Him,  this  we  may  be  quite 
sure  of,  "  He  died  for  us."  Every  sinful  soul 
— in  other  words,  every  soul  of  man — has  its 
blessed  share  in  the  redemption  of  Jesus.  "  All 
we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray  ;  we  have  turned 
ever}'  one  to  his  own  way  ;  and  the  Lord  hath 
laid  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all." 

Jesus  knows  us,  each  of  us,  and  all  of  each. 
We  could  not  bear  the  weight  of  it,  if  we  did 
not  also  know  that  His  knowing  us  does  not 
hinder  His  loving  us.  "  When  we  were  yet 
sinners  Christ  died  for  us."  Let  us  consent  to 
know  more  of  ourselves.  Be  it  our  earnest  and 
sincere  and  constant  prayer  that  the  blessed 
Spirit,  whose  work  it  is  to  convince  the  world 
of  sin,  will  come  to  us  to  convince  us  of  our  own 
sins,  though  not  to  leave  us  there,  but  to  lift  us 

E 


66  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

out  of  the  slough  of  despond,  and  from  the  mor- 
tifying, depressing  contemplation  of  our  own 
corruption  to  the  finished  work,  and  free  pardon, 
and  glorious  righteousness  of  our  incarnate  Lord. 
May  we  learn  to  enjoy,  no  longer  as  slaves  but 
as  sons,  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God,  and  so  walking  in  the  light,  as  He  is  in 
the  light,  we  shall  have  fellowship  one  with 
another — the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  His  Son, 
moment  by  moment,  cleansing  us  from  all  sin. 


Ill 
THE  SINNER'S  DILEMMA 

What  shall  1  do  lhe?i  with  ycsits,  which  is  called  Christ  f 
Matthew  xxvii.  22. 

TDILATE'S  questions  (in  all  there  are  twelve 
of  them)  painfully  indicate  the  vacillations 
between  his  instinct  of  justice  and  his  instinct 
of  self-interest  ;  also  make  plain  in  its  many- 
sided  and  tremendous  baseness  the  culminating1 
sin  of  mankind.  Any  one  reading  the  Story  of 
the  Cross  for  the  first  time  will  naturally  wonder 
(and  without  raising  the  average  level  of  human 
character  too  high)  that  not  a  single  voice  was 
raised  in  the  divine  sufferer's  favour  out  of  the 
man}'  thousands  aided  and  blessed  by  His  works 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  67 

of"  mercy,  some  of  whom  must  have  heen 
present  at  that  very  time  to  keep  the  feast.  It 
is  a  sort  of  answer  that  the  priests  had  sur- 
rounded Pilate's  judgment-scat  with  a  packed 
crowd  of  their  own  hirelings,  and  that  had  there 
been  a  feeble,  a  solitary,  though  a  manful,  and  piti- 
ful voice  raised  on  his  behalf,  it  would  have  been 
instantly  drowned  in  the  savage  cries  for  blood. 
It  still  remains  true  that  as  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions of  men  conspired  for  the  death  of  Jesus, 
so  all  shapes  and  varieties  of  sin  made  that 
conspiracy  possible.  The  deepest  of  pagan 
thinkers  had  long  before  predicted  that  if  ever  a 
perfect  man  appeared  on  earth  he  would  sooner 
or  later  be  doomed  to  death,  by  those  who  at 
once  feared  and  hated  his  goodness  ;  and  who, 
foiled  in  their  attempts  to  make  a  tool  of  him, 
were  at  least  bent  on  preventing  him  from  being 
their  king.  The  civil  magistrate,  the  church 
ruler,  the  priest,  the  religious  teacher,  the  soldier, 
the  rabble,  the  familiar  friend,  each  separately, 
all  conjointly,  shout  "  Crucify  him."  Each  in 
his  own  share  of  that  stupendous  crime,  mani- 
fests and  represents  a  special  phase  of  human 
wickedness  ;  all,  together,  at  once  produce  and 
compel  the  cross. 

Pilate's   sin  was   that  of  worldly  expediency.  All  men 
Christ  was  not  the  first  martyr  to  it,  nor  has  He  Zf't/n'"^ 
been  the  last.      The   sceptical   yet   not  quite   oh- c ''"'"' °f  "lc 
durate  pagan,  alternating  between  pity  for  Christ 
as   one  beside   himself  and    fear   of   Him   as  in 


68  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

some  sense  a  servant  of  God  ;  mortified  by  Him 
because  He  refused  to  recognise  his  power ; 
vexed  with  Him  because  He  gave  him  such  in- 
finite trouble,  never  for  one  moment  hesitated  as 
to  His  innocence,  when  Barabbas  was  preferred 
to  Him,  asked  with  palpable  sincerity,  "  Why, 
what  evil  hath  He  done  ?  "  scourged  Him,  that 
the  sight  of  His  suffering  might  appease  and 
satisfy  their  implacable  hatred  ;  sent  Him  to  die 
"  only  to  content  the  people,"  and  because  he 
wished  to  be  considered  as  "  Caesar's  friend." 
Caiaphas,  there  is  reason  to  suppose  from  St. 
John's  narrative,  was  personally  convinced  of 
His  Messiahship  ;  but  Jesus  was  not  the  kind  of 
Messiah  that  he  and  his  friends  wished  for. 
They  desired  a  Messiah  who  would  bring  back 
the  days  of  the  glorious  Maccabees,  raise  the 
standard  of  revolt,  drive  the  Roman  eagles  into 
the  sea,  and  restore  David's  kingdom  and  David's 
city.  A  Messiah  who  could  say,  "  Blessed  are 
the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the  earth,"  and 
"  Except  your  righteousness  exceed  the  right- 
eousness of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall 
in  no  wise  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven," 
was  to  be  swept  away  with  a  stern  and  final 
blow.  Some  one  must  die  for  the  people  ;  let 
him  die,  and  the  sooner  the  better.  The  priests 
could  not  endure  the  spiritual  teaching  of  Jesus. 
Their  religion  was  outside,  and  they  meant  to 
keep  it  there.  So  with  the  scribes,  who  guessed, 
rightly    guessed,    just    as    Stephen's    murderers 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  69 

afterwards  saw,  that  the  temple,  with  its  services, 
and  sacrifices,  and  ceremonial,  could  not  stand, 
if  He  were  to  stand.  That  one  sentence  of 
His,  which  no  doubt  He  spoke  in  many  other 
places  than  Sychar,  "  God  is  a  spirit,"  meant  the 
dethroning  of  Jerusalem  and  the  spiritualising  ol 
worship.  They  Were  formalists,  and  they  meant 
to  be.  The  soldier,  thinking  that  His  claim  to 
be  King  of  the  Jews  was  an  insult  to  his  own 
emperor,  heaped  on  Him  his  cruel  scorn,  poured 
out  his  vindictive  pride  on  the  patient,  unresist- 
ing, sinless  Saviour.  The  mob,  fickle,  coarse, 
waiting  for  signs,  ungrateful,  brutal  over  His 
helplessness,  and  made  more  bloodthirsty  by  the 
sight  of  His  anguish,  sank  to  the  lowest  con- 
ceivable infamy  of  gratuitous  and  vindictive 
wickedness.  His  own  familiar  friend  robbed 
Him,  accepted  the  sop  as  a  mark  of  friendship, 
mockingly  asked  "  Is  it  I  ?  "  went  out  into  the 
night  to  do  his  treason  ;  betrayed  Him  with  the 
kiss  of  peace  and  the  old  dear  word  of  "master  ;" 
implored  them  to  "  hold  Him  fast,"  lest  per- 
chance the  miserable  purchase  money  should  slip 
through  his  fingers ;  then  found  himself  in  the 
power  of  the  devil  and  sought  death,  only  to 
rivet  his  self-made  fetters  on  his  wretched  spirit, 
and  to  begin  to  learn  the  tremendous  meaning 
of  Christ's  boding  words,  "  Woe  to  him  by 
whom  the  Son  of  Man  is  betrayed." 

Well,  we  confess  that  sin,  we  comment  on  its  The  sin.  to 
'  '  be  brought 

hidcousness,  we  almost  feel  as  if  we  were  religious  home.  " 


70  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

ourselves  for  deploring  its  unsurpassed  guilt. 
We  half  pity  while  we  condemn  Pilate  gibbeted 
on  the  lips  of  millions  each  day  and  hour  of  the 
growing  centuries  for  his  share  in  the  cross. 
We  shudder  for  Caiaphas,  when  he  sees  in  the 
Son  of  Man  coming  in  the  clouds  of  heaven  the 
Jesus  whom  he  pierced.  The  priests  and  scribes 
are  felt  to  be  an  awful  instance  of  the  soul- 
hardening  power  of  even  the  divinest  truth,  when 
used  for  worldly  ends,  rejected  for  personal  salva- 
tion. The  soldiers  knew  not  what  they  did  ; 
they  had  the  blessed  intercession  of  Him  to  Whom 
they  did  it.  Even  before  the  Passion  was  over 
a  reaction  had  begun  to  pass  over  the  multitude, 
they  beat  their  breasts  and  returned  to  the  city, 
when  the  midday  darkness  fell  upon  them  as  a 
cloud  of  the  anger  of  God.  Judas — he  has  gone 
to  his  own  place — we  leave  him  to  his  judge. 

And  is  this  all  ?  Was  that  a  sort  of  dramatic 
spectacle  done  only  in  front  of  us,  independently  of 
us,  for  which  we  have  no  responsibility,  in  which 
we  have  no  share  ?  You,  my  friends,  who  read 
these  words,  I  who  write  them,  will  humbly, 
sincerely,  penitently  confess  that  they  were  but 
the  instruments  that  our  sins  had  made  inevitable, 
the  representatives  of  the  race  who,  before  and 
since  the  Passion,  have  needed  the  blood  because 
they  shared  the  sin.  When  each  of  us  under 
the  shadow  of  that  cross  asks  of  Him  who 
once  did  hang  there,  "  Lord,  is  it  I  ?"  and  are 
willing  to  hear   the   answer,   which   of    us    docs 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  71 

nut  know  the  answer  that  will  come,  "  Thou  hast 
said." 

We  do  not,  indeed,  know,  as  has  been  ob- 
served already,  no  one  can  ever  know,  the  awful 
possibilities  of  our  fallen  nature.  No  man  is 
tempted  to  every  sin,  and  some  sins  may  in  a 
sense  be  impossible  to  us.  We  were  not  there, 
but  those  who  were  there  were  men  of  like 
passions  with  ourselves.  We  were  not  there, 
but  had  we  been  there  should  we  have  been 
braver,  kinder,  truer,  more  constant  than  they  ? 
We  will  not  censure  them  as  if  we  were  sinless; 
wc  will  not  wonder  at  them  as  if  it  were  no 
longer  possible  to  crucify  Him  afresh,  and  to  put 
Him  to  an  open  shame.  Rather,  we  will  put 
into  our  lips  the  words  of  that  exquisite  hymn, 
and  strive  day  and  night  to  live  in  the  spirit  of 
them  : 

Remember  me,  but  not  my  shame  or  sin ; 

Thy  eh- an  sing  blood  hath  washed  them  all  away, 
Thy  precious  death  for  mc  did  pardon  win, 

Thy  blood  redeemed  me  in  that  awful  day. 

Remember  me  !  but  how  canst  Thou  forget 

What  pain  and  anguish  I  have  caused  to   Thee, 
The  cross,  the  agony,  the  bloody  S7ueat, 

And  all  the  sorrow   Thou  didst  bear  for  mc  .' 


72  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

IV 
THE  DIVINE  ANGUISH 

My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou  forsaken  Me  / 
Matthew  xxvii.  46. 

'"PHIS  is  the  cry  of  the  sin-bearer  ;  the  revela- 
tion  of  the  love  of  the  Father,  which  spared 
His  Son  for  such  unutterable  and  woful  anguish  ; 
the  cry  which  still  vibrates  in  the  conscience  of 
the  world.  There  is  no  despair  in  it  ;  only  the 
murmur  of  an  inexpressible  sadness  :  there  is  no 
complaint  in  it  ;  a  perfect  human  nature  must  in 
some  way  express  itself.  He  still  clung  to  God, 
Whom  he  called  His  own  God,  and  it  was  the 
felt  preciousness  of  the  presence  of  Him,  in 
Whose  favour  is  life,  that  made  Him  wonder  and 
mourn,  and  then  ask,  out  of  a  heart  which  re- 
proach had  broken,  why  in  that  supreme  moment 
of  perfect  and  willing  self-surrender  to  that 
Father's  holy  will,  the  sustaining  consciousness 
of  His  presence  should  have  been  removed  ? 
Other  explanations,  no  doubt,  have  been  given  ; 
but  all  that  fall  short  of  this  one  may  add  to  the 
interest  and  solemnise  the  pathos  of  the  mystery, 
but  cannot  solve  it. 

It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  the   physical  depres- 
sion which    ever  attends    crucifixion,    and  which 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  73 

must  have  been  specially  present  to  the  Lord, 
after  the  tedious  and  exhausting  hours  of  the 
agony  and  bloody  sweat,  the  trials,  and  the 
scourging,  must  have  told  on  His  nervous  system, 
an  essential  part  of  His  perfect  humanity,  and 
produced,  apart  from  any  other  cause,  an  utter 
prostration  of  body  and  mind.  The  shame  of 
the  cross,  which  an  inspired  writer  tells  us  He 
despised,  but  only  in  contrast  to  the  joy  set 
before  Him  ;  the  spitting,  the  mocking,  the  song 
of  the  drunkards,  the  gibes  of  the  priests,  must, 
we  think,  at  least  in  a  degree,  have  keenly  lace- 
rated the  inmost  fibres  of  His  sensitive  nature, 
in  wounding  that  sense  of  dignity  which  belongs 
to  man  as  man,  specially  to  the  most  refined,  and 
lofty,  and  pure  of  the  race.  The  darkness,  too, 
had  its  effect  upon  Him.  If  he  could  no  longer 
see  the  scowl  of  satisfied  revenge  on  the  faces  of 
His  enemies,  He  could  no  longer  descry  the  little 
group  of  friends  which,  in  the  sight  of  the  cross, 
wept  and  prayed.  A  great  sense  of  solitariness 
possessed  Him.  All  His  friends  and  disciples 
had  forsaken  Him  ;  now  His  Father's  face  seemed 
hidden  from  Him.  While  He  had  God  He  had 
everything.  When  God  seemed  lost  the  mist  of  a 
great  darkness  settled  on  His  soul.  For  the 
question  came  home  to  Him,  it  was  meant  to 
come  home  to  Him  ;  though  He  shuddered  at  it, 
He  was  glad  that  it  should  come  home  :  "  Why 
has  He  forsaken  Me  then  in  the  hour  of  My  dis- 
tress, when  I  need  Him  so  much  ?  " 


74  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Reflections  Reverence  and  humility  make  questionings 
presumptuous  and  speculation  offensive  on  the 
threshold  of  this  divine  sorrow.  But  we  may 
surely  compare  this  utterance  with  the  others 
from  the  cross  ;  we  may  contemplate  it  in  the 
light  of  what  He  elsewhere  asserted  of  His 
office  and  purpose  ;  we  will  observe  what  after- 
wards fell  from  Him  when  it  passed  away.  As 
Priest,  he  interceded  for  His  murderers;  as 
King,  he  promised  to  the  penitent  thief  to  wel- 
come him  in  Paradise;  as  man,  He  thirsted 
with  an  awful  thirst  ;  as  son,  He  commended 
His  mother  to  His  apostles'  care  ;  as  mortal,  yet 
yielding  up  His  life  as  and  when  it  pleased  Him, 
He  commended  His  Spirit  to  His  Father's  hands  ; 
as  the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world,  He  said,  "  It  is  finished."  But  here  the 
calmness,  the  sublimity,  the  authority,  the  con- 
sciousness of  sonship  and  of  bodily  suffering,  of 
approaching  dissolution  and  of  accomplished 
duty,  are  all  merged,  forgotten,  swallowed  up  in 
the  one  overwhelming  thought  that  He  had  lost 
God.  There  is  no  human  anguish  like  moral 
anguish  ;  there  is  no  earthly  poverty  like  spiritual 
poverty  ;  there  is  no  loss  under  the  sun  like  the 
loss  of  God.  Surely  here  the  agony  came  back 
upon  Him  ;  the  cup  which  He  had  tasted  before 
was  put  to  His  lips  that  He  might  drink  it  to 
the  dregs,  and  the  angel  was  not  there  to 
strengthen  Him  from  Heaven.  The  Lamb  of 
God   which    taketh    away   the   sin   of   the   world 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  75 

first  had  to  feci  it  all  laid  upon  Him  in  its 
immenseness,  in  its  loathsomeness,  in  its  inso- 
lence, in  its  cruelty,  in  its  ingratitude,  in  its  self- 
will,  in  its  obstinacy,  before  He  could  confess  it 
as  the  world's  representative,  and  expiate  it  as 
the  world's  Redeemer.  It  was  not  the  pain  that 
was  the  essence  and  inseparable  accompaniment 
of  it.  It  is  a  sort  of  insult  and  wrong  to  God 
to  suppose  that  pain  as  pain  has  any  sort  of 
value  with  Him,  or  that,  except  as  a  remedial 
and  medicinal  discipline,  it  is  aught  but  repulsive 
in  His  sight.  No,  it  was  the  beauty  of  the 
perfect  sacrifice,  the  filialness  of  the  submitted 
will,  the  spotless  holiness,  which  in  its  sympathy 
with  the  divine  Righteousness  recognised  that 
sin  could  be  expiated  before  the  universe  only  in 
one  tremendous  way,  and  which  in  sympathy  with 
the  race  of  which  He  had  been  born  the  head 
and  representative,  out  of  the  great  love  where- 
with He  loved  us,  consented  to  feel  the  sin,  and 
then  to  put  it  away  (mystery  as  that  must  always 
remain)  by  the  offering  of  Himself — here  was  the 
acceptable  and  sufficient  atonement  in  the  sight  of 
a  Holy  God,  Who  Himself  spared  Him  to  be  the 
sacrifice,  the  sacrifice  which  once  offered  needs 
no  repetition,  only  the  constant  application  of  it 
to  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  individual  sinner  in 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Theologians  have  differed  and  debated,  and  even 
quarrelled,  in  a  perfectly  intelligible  eagerness, 
about  words  and   phrases  in  the  scientific  expo- 


76  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

sition  of  the  atonement ;  thereby  troubling  simple 
hearts,  without  solving  an  unfathomable  mystery, 
and  only  bringing  more  mist  and  darkness  between 
the  cross  and  the  sinner.  Some  questions  will 
always  remain  in  shadow,  and  to  try  to  explain 
them  merely  makes  them  darker,  and  multiplies 
words  without  knowledge.  For  some  of  us — 
perhaps  we  are  only  very  simple  Christians — it 
is  enough  to  know  "  that  if  any  man  sin,  we 
have  an  advocate  with  the  Father,  Jesus  Christ 
the  righteous.  And  He  is  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world." 

Look,  Father,  look  on  His  anointed  face, 
And  only  look  on  us  as  found  in  Him  ; 

Look  not  on  our  misusings  of  Thy  grace, 

Our  prayer  so  languid,   and  our  faith  so  dim  : 

For  lo,  between  our  sins  and  their  reward, 

We  set  the  Passion  of  Thy  Son  our  Lord. 

To  some  who  read  these  words  it  may  come, 
not  as  a  punishment,  but  as  a  discipline,  even 
an  honour,  that  either  on  the  eve  of  the  spirit's 
passing  into  the  vision  of  God,  or,  as  often 
happens,  in  a  weary  interval  of  languor  or  suffer- 
ing, the  one  sustaining  Presence  which  makes 
bitter  sweet  and  sadness  joy  is  mysteriously 
removed.  It  is  now  night,  and  Jesus  is  not 
come  to  us.  We  have  no  place  to  flee  unto,  and 
no  man  cares  for  our  soul.  My  friends,  this  is 
no  fanciful  sorrow,  and  some  of  the   purest   and 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  77 

noblest  souls  arc  occasionally  bidden  to  pass 
into  it.  It  is  no  light  sorrow,  for  just  in  pro- 
portion as  our  Lord  is  all  in  all  to  us  do  we  miss 
and  mourn  Him  when  lie  is  gone.  Any  day  it 
may  come  to  me,  or  it  may  come  to  you  ;  and 
shall  1  tell  you  what  to  do  when  you,  or  those 
you  care  for,  feel  that  it  has  arrived  ?  Trust 
Him  all  the  same,  worship  Him  all  the  same, 
cling  to  Him  all  the  same,  serve  Him,  confess 
Him,  glorify  Him  all  the  same.  It  will  not  be 
unreal  in  you,  for  your  reason  (and  at  such 
times  you  must  summon  reason  to  your  help) 
will  tell  you,  that  your  not  being  conscious  of 
Him  can  no  more  rob  you  of  His  love  and  pre- 
sence than  your  being  asleep  can.  It  is  not 
insincerity,  for  it  is  the  strength  and  the  dis- 
tinctness of  your  love  to  Him  which  makes  you 
long  with  such  an  exceeding  desire  for  what  to 
many  men  is  worthless.  You  will  be  honouring 
Him,  and  manifesting  Him,  perhaps  more  than 
in  the  sunshine  of  His  presence.  For  you  will 
be  filling  up  that  which  is  behind  of  His  suffer- 
ings in  your  flesh  for  His  body's  sake,  the 
Church  ;  you  will  be  an  example  to  others,  that 
it  is  not  only  feeling  saved  that  saves  us.  So 
personally  believing  on  the  Saviour,  and  learning 
the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings,  you  shall  one 
day  be  partakers  of  His  crown. 


7S  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

V 

NO  CONDEMNATION 

Who  is  lie  that  condemneth  t — Romans  viii.  34. 

np'HE  question  and  the  reply  are  of  more  vital 
moment  to  the  human  soul  than  any  others 
in  the  world.  The  question,  let  it  be  observed, 
is  not  "Who  is  he  that  accuseth  ?  "  There  are 
some  who  accuse,  and  their  accusation  is  of  no 
consequence  ;  there  are  others  who  accuse,  and 
their  accusation,  being  baseless  and  untrue,  is 
harmless  and  soon  forgotten  ;  there  are  others 
who  accuse,  and  their  accusation  has  only  too 
much  force  and  truth  in  it.  There  is  also  One, 
whom  Holy  Scripture  calls  by  the  awful  name  of 
"  the  Accuser  of  the  Saints,"  who  accused  Job, 
who  doubtless  will  one  day  accuse  Judas.  His 
existence  is  a  tremendous  mystery,  beyond  us  to 
fathom,  3'et  not  beyond  us  to  recognise  in  some 
of  the  most  terrible  and  indisputable  experiences 
of  our  lives.  Yet  he  can  only  accuse,  he  cannot 
condemn.  To  condemn  is  to  wield  the  authority 
of  a  judge,  who,  with  the  assent  of  society, 
knows,  weighs,  rewards,  and  punishes.  There 
are  many  to  accuse,  and  readiness  to  accuse  is 
not   usually  a  feature  of  the    loftiest    or  wisest 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  79 

natures,  and  to  he  accused  (it  depends  on  the 
accusation  and  the  accuser,  however)  may  he  a 
great  honour.  The  question  that  really  affects 
us  is  the  Apostle's,  "  Who  is  he  that  con- 
demneth  ?  " 

Idle  divine  condemnation  is  for  sin.  The 
sense  of  sin,  of  imperfection,  of  shortcoming,  of 
mixed,  often  tainted  motive,  of  lack  of  a  high 
ideal,  of  slackness  for  good,  of  wishes  we  could 
not  put  into  words,  of  imaginations  which  would 
make  our  dearest  friends  loathe  and  despise  us, 
is  more  or  less  familiar  to  us  all.  To  forget 
them  is  not  to  he  delivered  from  them.  To 
palliate  or  excuse  them  is  not  to  heal  or  conquer 
them.  To  conceal  them  from  others  may  only 
result  in  their  festering  more  deeply  within.  Of 
all  condemning  voices  the  most  inexorable  and 
depressing  is  the  condemning  voice  of  our  own  con- 
science. What  matters  it  though  we  be  acquitted 
and  forgiven  by  others,  if  we  cannot  acquit  and 
forgive  ourselves  ?  "  It  is  Christ  that  died,  yea, 
rather  that  is  risen  again,  who  is  even  at  the 
right  hand  of  God,  whoever  maketh  intercession 
for  us." 

In  other  words,  that  which   makes  peace  with  Whatgives 
God    and    frees    us    from    fear  and   remorse  on  ,■'„!,','.'/ 
account   of  sin,  is  the  life,  the  death,  the   resur- A 
rection,   and    the   ascension   of  the   Lord   Jesus. 
When  the  sense  of  sin   committed   or  of  duties 
neglected  troubles  and   harasses   me  (and  I  may 
be  glad  to  be  thus  troubled),  what   is  my  one 


So  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

consolation  to  be  ?  Christ  has  lived  for  me, 
and  thereby  done  for  me  what  I  never  could  do 
for  myself.  "  He  has  magnified  the  law,  and 
made  it  honourable ;  "  and,  as  man,  has  fulfilled 
all  righteousness  on  my  behalf ;  not  to  save  me 
the  blessed  pain  and  effort  of  working  out  my 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,  but  that 
I  might  be  made  "  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
Him."  I  have  sinned  every  day,  almost  every 
hour,  since  I  was  born.  The  better  I  become, 
the  more  conscious  I  am  of  my  sinfulness  ;  the 
more  I  learn  to  feel  sin  and  to  mourn  for  it,  the 
more  impossible  it  seems  to  me  that  I  can  ever 
be  forgiven.  Christ  has  died  for  me.  He  is 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world.  "  Him  hath  God  set  forth  to  be 
a  propitiation  through  faith  in  His  blood."  When 
He  was  on  earth  He  said  to  sinners,  "  Thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee;  go  in  peace."  Does  He  not, 
can  He  not,  will  He  not  say  the  same  now  ?  He 
will.  "  God  is  in  Christ,  reconciling  the  world 
unto  Himself,  not  imputing  their  trespasses  unto 
them."  If  God  says  this,  He  expects  us  to 
believe  Him,  or  we  "make  Him  a  liar."  If  He 
is  content  with  declaring  but  not  explaining  it,  I 
must  be  content  to  take  it  on  His  word,  and  to 
wait  for  its  being  all  made  clear  when  we  see  Him 
as  He  is.  In  the  words  of  the  beautiful  hymn, 
which  preaches  all  the  gospel  we  need,  and 
understand,  and  care  for — 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  8] 

/  lay  my  sins  on  Jesus, 
The  spotless  Lamb  of  God  ; 

lie  bears  them  all  and  fire*  //s 
From  the  accursed  load. 

When  I  cast  my  guilt  on  Him,  He  puts  His 
righteousness  on  me  ;  for  my  sins  He  gives  me 
in  exchange  I  lis  own  obedience.  Having  made 
peace  through  the  hloodofllis  cross,  He  bestows 
that  peace  on  me,  and  I  am  at  rest. 

"  There  is,  therefore,  now  no  condemnation 
to  them  which  arc  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  "  Yea, 
rather  that  is  risen  again,"  St.  Paul  goes  on  to 
say.  Christ  has  risen  for  me.  The  resurrection 
of  Christ  has  a  twofold  value — as  the  pledge  of 
victory  and  as  the  manifestation  of  acceptance. 
He  has  conquered  death.  "  O  death,  where  is 
thy  sting?  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory?"  But 
His  resurrection  is  also  His  Father's  testimony 
to  the  sufficiency  of  the  atonement  by  the  cross. 
"  Who  was  delivered  for  our  offences,  and  raised 
again  for  our  justification."  "  The  God  of  our 
fathers  raised  up  Jesus,  whom  ye  slew  and 
hanged  on  a  tree.  Him  hath  God  exalted  with 
His  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour  for 
to  give  repentance  to  Israel  and  forgiveness  of 
sins."  The  risen  Saviour  is  the  author  and 
finisher  of  the  new  life  ;  the  pledge  of  acceptance 
and  victory.  Again  St.  Paul  goes  on  :  "  Who 
is  even  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh 
intercession  for  us."      Christ's  glorified  humanity 

F 


82  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

is  at  once  the  first-fruits  and  the  earnest  of  our 
chnst  has  own  glorification  there.  When  we  sin,  He  is 
"Heaven for  our  advocate.  He  presents  before  the  face  of 
His  Father  "  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  which 
speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel ;  "  as 
"  the  Lamb  as  it  had  been  slain,"  He  represents 
the  one  sacrifice  for  sins ;  whereby  He  hath 
"  perfected  for  ever  them  that  are  sanctified." 
His  presence  is  His  intercession  ;  His  interces- 
sion ensures  the  continual  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
for  the  Church's  life  and  work  in  the  world. 
"  We  have  not  an  High  Priest  which  cannot  be 
touched  with  the  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  but 
was  in  all  points  tempted  like  as  we  are,  yet 
without  sin." 

His  incarnation  is  the  basis  of  the  atonement, 
His  life  the  exposition  of  it,  His  death  the  com- 
pletion of  it,  His  resurrection  the  evidence  of  its 
acceptance,  His  ascension  the  application  of  its 
virtue.  The  incarnation  makes  the  atonement 
possible.  The  atonement  is  the  expression  of 
the  love  of  God,  and  the  manifestation  of  the 
nature  of  God,  in  the  claims  of  His  holiness,  the 
stupendousness  of  His  sacrifice,  the  beauty  of 
His  humility.  The  resurrection  crowns  the 
crucified  with  glory  and  honour,  inspires  the 
human  family,  of  which  Jesus  has  become  a 
member,  with  dignity  and  hope.  The  ascension, 
which  opens  the  kingdom  of  Heaven  to  all  be- 
lievers, brings  Heaven  down  to  earth,  through 
the  power   of    the     indwelling    Spirit,    into    the 


CHRIST  CRUCIFIED  S3 

homes  and  hearts  of  men.  We,  too,  who  know 
and  believe  the  love  God  hath  to  us,  may  take  up 
our  song  and  say,  "  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that  was 
slain  to  receive  power  and  riches,  and  wisdom 
and  strength,  and  honour  and  glory  and  blessing." 
In  conclusion,  if  the  atonement  reveals  the  love 
of  God,  and  this  is  its  supreme  revelation,  it  also  Holiness. 
reveals  the  holiness  of  God.  If  He  yearns  to 
save,  He  may  be  forced  to  condemn.  The  judge 
who  says  to  some,  "  Come,  ye  blessed  of  my 
Father,"  will  say  to  others,  "  Depart  from  me, 
ye  cursed."  We  read  of  "  the  love  of  Christ 
which  passeth  knowledge."  We  also  read  (surely 
it  is  one  of  the  most  tremendous  sentences  in  the 
Bible)  of  "  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb." 

Let  no  one  trifle  with  sin,  or  presume  on  God's 
forbearance  about  it,  or  think  it  does  not  matter, 
or  that  pardon  can  come  whenever  it  is  con- 
venient to  ask  for  it.  "  The  agony  and  the 
bloody  sweat,  the  cross  and  the  passion,"  are  the 
measure  as  much  of  God's  unspeakable  horror 
of  sin  as  of  His  boundless  pity  for  sinners. 

Then  let  it  be  observed  that  it  is  an  incorrect 
and  perilous  notion,  that  because  Christ  died  for 
us,  the  temporal  or  eternal  consequences  of  sin 
arc  repealed  or  diverted  ;  or  that  because  "  by 
Mis  stripes  we  are  healed,"  the  process  of  healing 
involves  neither  loss  nor  suffering  to  sinners. 
"  The  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  and  though  the 
gift  of  God  is  eternal  life — His  full,  free,  present, 
ungrudged  gift  to   us — sin,  even  though  forgiven 


84  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

and  forsaken,  leaves  its  lethal  effect  on  us.      Old 
habits,     evil     memories,    indulged    propensities, 
neglected   talents  go  with  us  to  the  edge   of  our 
grave,  make  up  the  total  of  the   character  which 
will  sum  up   our  life's   history  in  the  world,  and 
be  ours  when  we  enter  eternity.      The  apostle  of 
justification   in  his   letter   to   the   "  legal "   Gala- 
tians,  thought  well  to  press  this  solemn  warning 
— do  not  we  need   it    as  much   as  they  ?      "  Be 
not  deceived,  God   is   not  mocked.      Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap."     Lastly, 
when    the    apostle  reminds   us,  as   he  is  careful 
twice  to  remind  us,  that   we   are   bought   with  a 
price,  the   price   which    St.    Peter    says   is   "  the 
precious  blood  of  Christ,  as   of  a   lamb  without 
blemish  and  without  spot,"  what  is  the  inference 
he  draws  ?      In  one  place,  that  of  glorifying  God 
in  our  body  and  in  our  spirit,  which   are  God's  ; 
and  in  the  other,  that  of  being  His  willing,  ready, 
obedient    slaves.      He   has   bought   us ;    we  are 
His  property  ;  we  owe    Him  everything  ;   let   us 
recognise  and  pay  our  glorious  debt.      If  anyone 
has    real    cause  to  doubt  that   he   is  forgiven,  it 
will  be  he  who  has  no  penitence  for  past  sin,  no 
deep  living  desire  to  be  pure  and  holy.      If  any 
of   us   wish   to   manifest    to   God    and     men   the 
glorious   liberty  of  those  who   arc   set  free  from 
sin   and   made   servants   unto   righteousness,   let 
them  yield  themselves  to  Gcd,  their  Master,  their 
Saviour,  their   Friend,   whose   yoke  is   easy  and 
His  burden  light. 


CHRIST    RISEN 


My  joy  is  death — 
Death  at  whose  name  I  oft  have  been  afear'd 
Because  I  wish'd  this  world's  eternity. 

Shakespeare. 


THE  RESURRECTION  CREDIBLE 


Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible  with  you  that 
God  should  raise  the  dead  f — Acts  xxvi.  8. 


TWO  difficulties  are  constantly  raised  about 
the  resurrection  of  Christ,  one  affect- 
ing the  occurrence  of  the  fact,  the  other  denying 
the  possibility  of  it.  The  first  is  reasonable, 
the  second  outrageous.  The  first  can  be  fairl}' 
met  and  thoroughly  debated,  and  then  rejected 
or  accepted,  according  to  the  value  of  the  evi- 
dence adduced  for  it.  The  second  starts  from  the 
assumption  (at  once  arrogant  and  unphilosophicalj 
that  physical  law  includes  and  limits  the  know- 
able,  and  that  anything  admittedly  outside  of  it, 
be  the  evidence  of  it  what  it  may,  must  be  in  a 
sphere  of  which  the  human  mind  cannot  be 
expected  to  take  serious  notice,  and  so  is  either 
above  or  beneath  acceptance. 

St.  Paul  surely  here  addressed   himself  to   the 
latter   of    these    objections    rather   than    to    the 


SS  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DU1Y 

former.  Not  without  reason.  If  an  event,  how- 
ever momentous  and  far-reaching,  is  instantly, 
perhaps  scornfully,  rejected  as  ludicrously  incre- 
dible, the  result  is  that  it  is  ordered  oft"  the 
threshold  of  the  mind,  as  not  deserving  even  ad- 
mittance. On  the  whole,  however,  the  Church 
has  no  reason  to  complain  that  the  stupendous 
event,  which  at  once  creates  her  life,  accen- 
tuates her  message,  explains  her  history,  and 
initiates  her  triumph,  should  have  been  examined, 
sifted,  and  weighed  as  no  other  event  in  the 
world's  history  has  been.  Everything,  as  St. 
Paul  observes  in  his  great  argument  to  the 
Corinthians,  depends  upon  it. 

If  Christ  is  not  raised,  there  is  no  redemption 
for  the  race.  If  Christ  is  not  raised,  then  He 
deceived  Himself,  and  disappointed  His  followers. 
Yet  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that,  before  He 
died,  He  repeatedly  told  them  that  after  He  had 
died  He  should  rise  again.  Nothing  is  more 
certain  than  that  they  did  not  understand  Him 
when  He  said  it,  and  that,  after  His  death,  not 
one  of  them  consoled  himself  with  the  hope  of 
His  resurrection.  Nothing  further  is  more 
certain  than  the  slowness  and  bewilderment  with 
which  they  accepted  the  fact  of  His  resurrection 
when  He  at  first  appeared  to  them.  Nay,  so  slow, 
so  reluctant  were  they  to  accept  it,  that,  in 
the  words  of  an  Evangelist,  "  He  upbraided 
them  with  their  unbelief  and  hardness  of  heart, 
because  they   believed  not  them  which   had   seen 


CHRIST  RISEN  89 

Him  after  He  was  risen."  Once  more,  nothing 
is  more  certain  than  that,  when  they  were  finally 

and  completely  convinced  of  it,  they  were  never 
moved  out  of  their  conviction,  or  shaken  in  their 
habit  of  proclaiming  it  as  the  keystone  of  their 
glorious  message.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  it  had  an  absolutely  transforming  power  on 
their  entire  spiritual  nature.  It  at  once  inspired 
them  with  an  irresistible  enthusiasm,  and  in- 
flamed them  with  an  unspeakable  joy. 

St.  Paul,  in  his  address  to  Agrippa  and  Festus,  How  the 
and  the  glittering  crowd  of  soldiers  and  courtiers  ag£ti ethem 
in  attendance,  grapples  with  this  question  at 
once.  He  does  not  indeed  pause  to  contend  for  the 
power  of  God  to  raise  the  dead.  That  he  seems 
to  assume  as  beyond  questioning.  But  he  says  : 
"  Why  should  not  you  believe  that  God  is  will- 
ing to  raise  the  dead  ?  "  and  "  On  what  grounds 
is  such  willingness  incredible?"  If  those  who 
were  His  companions  and  followers  say  that  they 
saw  Jesus  after  death,  why  do  you  reject  it  with 
a  scoff,  as  if  such  a  thing  could  not  be  ?  The 
inference  of  course  follows.  If  God  raised  Jesus, 
that  at  least  is  one  instance  of  His  willingness 
to  raise  the  dead.  Why  should  it  be  the  only 
instance  ;  and  what  is  the  practical  good  of  it,  if  it 
does  not  affect  us  ?  If  He  raised  one  from  death 
it  is  at  least  conceivable  that  He  will  raise  others 
from  death  ;  and  such  a  resurrection  is  life  and 
hope  for  the  world.  There  are  thus  two  classes 
of  reasons    which    should    make    us    refuse  to 


go  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

think    it    incredible  that    God   should   raise    the 

dead.       One  which    has    reference   to   His  own 

eternal  nature  ;  the  other  which  impresses  itself 

upon   us  from  the   serious    contemplation   of  our 

own. 

Rising  from  the  dead   implies  life  beyond  the 
resume-  ~  .  .  , . 

Hon  grave.       lo   speculate   on   immortality,   as   apart 

imping.  from  resurrection,  is  both  reasonable  and  inter- 
esting, but  it  would  be  outside  our  subject.  It 
may,  however,  be  observed  here  that  the  familiar 
expression  "  immortal  soul  "  has  no  place  in  holy 
Scripture,  and  our  Lord  seems  to  identify  the 
promise  of  resurrection  with  the  continuity  of 
the  personal  life.  Thus  arguing  with  the  Sad- 
ducees  He  says,  "As  touching  the  dead  that 
they  rise  :  have  ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses, 
how  in  the  bush  God  spake  unto  him,  saying, 
I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of 
Isaac,  and  the  God  of  Jacob  ?  He  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead,  but  the  God  of  the  living  ! " 
The  fulfilment  of  God's  purpose,  and  the  mani- 
festation of  God's  righteousness,  seem  further 
to  require  a  resurrection  from  the  dead.  This 
life  of  ours  on  earth  is  but  a  short  fragment  of 
time.  The  history  of  our  race  in  the  world  is 
so  full  of  stops  and  checks ;  so  slow  in  its 
process  of  development ;  so  fraught  with  terrible 
anguish  ;  so  perplexing  with  insoluble  problems, 
that  it  seems  incredible  that  this  life  could  be 
other  than  a  threshold,  a  vestibule,  to  unend- 
ing aeons  in   front,  where  hereafter  it  shall  work 


i  HRIST  RISEN  91 

out  its  complete  destiny,  and  justify  our  creation 
in  the  image  of  God.  Everything  towards  a 
goal  of  good  moves  slowly,  even  unwillingly. 
It  lias  been  observed  by  a  living  writer  that 
there  is  a  "  boundless  improvablcness  of  the 
human  lot  ; "  but  also  "  intense  difficulty  "  in 
"  making  life  better  by  ever  so  little."  God  is 
and  God  rules,  yet  clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  Him,  and  the  moan  of  taunting  and 
weariness  still  goes  up  to  Heaven,  "O  that  I 
might  find  Him."  Moreover,  God  does  not  inter- 
fere now,  as  we  might  expect  Him  to  interfere, 
for  the  vindication  of  the  righteous,  and  for  the 
punishment  of  the  sinner.  Things  are  inextri- 
cably mixed. 

There  is  a  reward  for  the  righteous  ;  but  he 
does  not  get  all  of  it,  sometimes  nothing,  except 
the  love  of  God.  There  is  a  reward  for  the 
sinner ;  but  if  that  always  came  on  this  side 
death  there  would  be  no  test  of  integrity  and  no 
trial  of  faith.  No  doubt  these  reflections  are  as 
old  as  the  hills,  and  they  do  not  go  very  far  ; 
nevertheless  men  have  muttered  them  to  them- 
selves, whispered  them  to  each  other,  and  with 
hope  from  them  have  quietly  fallen  asleep.  Old 
things  may  be  as  true  as  new  ;  and  what  has 
comforted  past  ages  of  sorrowful  and  perplexed 
hearts  may  have  some  force  in  it  to-day.  On 
the  side  of  man  there  are  at  least  two  cogent  and 
irrepressible  reasons  for  suggesting  a  life  to  come 
and   the    resurrection,  which  summons   us  to  it, 


92  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  ANT  DUTY 

and    equips    us  for  it.      One    is   duty,  the   other 
love. 

"  Duty  is  a  vast  power,  and  needs  a  vast  world 
to  work  in."  But  what  paralyses  and  depresses 
us  for  duty  is  the  chilling  thought  that  we  shall 
never  get  but  a  very  small  part  of  it  done. 
What  is  so  apt  to  daunt  us  in  the  inception  of 
great  plans,  or  the  persevering  with  vast  experi- 
ments, or  the  inventing  and  starting  of  noble 
philanthropies,  is  the  inevitable  thought  that 
soon  we  may  be  called  away,  before  even  a  very 
small  part  of  our  design  is  accomplished,  and 
then  out  of  our  cold  white  fingers  the  thread  of 
the  web  will  drop,  which  no  other  hand  will 
weave  into  our  design.  The  thought  of  eternity 
in  front — wherein  to  pick  up  broken  threads,  and 
to  perfect  self-culture,  and  to  see  as  we  are  seen, 
and  to  know  as  we  are  known — makes  men  of 
us,  and  instantly  sets  us  free  with  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  So,  too,  with 
love.  If  there  is  no  resurrection  ;  if  death,  in- 
stead of  being  an  event  in  life,  is  the  end  and 
grave  of  it,  why  am  I  capable  of  loving  others — 
why  are  others  capable  of  loving  me  ?  This  soul 
of  mine,  with  its  affections,  aspirations,  hopes, 
aims,  and  longings,  becomes  the  most  gratuitous 
and  unaccountable  machine  of  deliberate  moral 
torture  that  the  human  mind  can  conceive.  But 
if  in  the  Father's  house  there  are  many  mansions, 
and  if  some  of  His  children  are  in  the  upper 
story  and  others  in   the  lower,  while  all  are    be- 


CHRIST.   RISEN  93 

neath  the  same  roof,  all  breathing  the  same 
atmosphere,  all  looking  for  one  Saviour,  all  sus- 
tained by  one  food,  then  the  life  I  live  is  some- 
thing "more  than  an  insect's  life  ;"  then,  strange 
as  it  still  appears  that  on  such  a  short  trial  such 
eternal  issues  should  hang,  I  begin  to  love  here, 
that  I  may  go  on  to  love  there.  When  God 
made  me  in  His  own  image,  it  was  that  I  might 
live  and  know  and  love  and  worship  and  serve 
for  ever  and  ever. 

Thus,  "  Why  should  it  be  thought  incredible 
that  GoJ  should  raise  the  dead  ?" 


II 
THE  QUESTION  BY  THE  OPEN   TDM/; 

Why  weepest  thouf  Whom  seekest  thouf—JoHH  xx.  15. 

Pi  IE  first  of  these  questions  was  asked  by 
angels  ;  both  of  them  by  the  Lord.  They 
were  asked,  by  the  side  of  the  empty  tomb,  of  a 
weeping,  desolate  woman,  the  passionateness  of 
whose  sorrow  for  a  moment  robbed  her  of  the 
exercise  of  her  understanding.  Through  the 
exquisite  tears  which  blinded  all  the  faculties  of 
her  being,  she  could  not  see  that  the  cause  of 
her  disappointment  was  also  the  fountain  of  her 
hope.      Mary  Magdalene  had  come  to  anoint  her 


94  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Saviour  for  His  burying.  To  her  dismay,  He 
was  gone,  and  she  did  not  know  where  they  had 
laid  Him  ;  and  clearly  it  never  even  occurred  to 
her  (had  the  apostles  felt  hopeless  of  impressing 
it?)  that  He  was  gone  because  He  was  risen,  and 
that  she  was  seeking  the  living  among  the  dead. 
The  angels  gently  asked  her,  Why  she  was 
weeping  ?  So  absorbed  was  she  in  her  sorrow 
that  it  seemed  no  strange  thing  to  be  addressed 
by  them.  Suddenly  she  saw  Him,  and  He,  too, 
asked  her  why  she  wept.  Only  with  the  insight 
which  He  possessed,  and  angels  could  not  possess, 
He  put  a  second  question,  which  at  once  touched 
the  fibres  of  her  nature  and  produced  the  answer 
He  desired.  "  Whom  seekest  thou  ?  "  The  rest 
followed  ;  not  at  once,  but  as  soon  as  He  saw 
she  could  bear  it.  He  called  her  by  that  familiar 
name  which  stirred  in  her  the  blessed  memories 
of  the  past.  All  flashed  on  her  in  a  moment. 
She  fell  at  His  feet,  as  we  shall  fall  at  His  feet, 
when  with  purged  eyes  we  first  see  Him  in  His 
beauty.  His  instruction  to  her  is  a  precious 
comment  on  the  right  use  of  religious  feeling. 
His  discouragement  of  her  homage  of  rapturous 
worship  teaches  us,  among  other  things,  that  to 
obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and  that  the 
highest  blessings  are  given  only  to  be  cheerfully 
shared. 

Why  do  we  weep  by  the  grave  of  a  friend,  and 
how  are  those  tears  (tears  which  Jesus  shed, 
and   which   are   a  feature  of  our  true  humanity) 


CHRIST  RISEN  95 

to    be  explained   and    justified,   and    dried    and 
healed  ? 

First  of  all,  they  arc  tears  which  How  from  a  The  mean- 
feeling  of  sympathy.  Our  friend  has  gone  down  fr£faea 
to  the  edge  of  the  river,  and  we  went  with  him  dead- 
there,  but  we  had  to  stay  on  the  bank  to  sec 
him  plunge  in  and  disappear  beneath  the  waters. 
The  pain,  the  weakness,  the  decay,  the  parting, 
the  death  are  all  fresh  in  our  memory,  and  the 
lacerated  nerves  still  ache  with  pain.  The 
thought  of  our  friend's  loneliness  as  he  passed 
away  by  himself,  without  one  who  loved  him  at 
his  side,  is  another  pang  to  the  heart,  though 
there  is  a  certain  unreasonableness  in  it.  Most 
of  all,  we  feel  that  what  he  has  gone  through  we 
must  go  through.  Whether  or  no  we  weep 
for  ourselves,  to  have  no  one  to  weep  over  us 
would  be  the  awful  Nemesis  of  a  selfish  and 
wicked  life. 

We  weep  also  from  the  fact  of  separation. 
The  world  is  emptier  than  it  was,  and  emptier  of 
the  one  friend  who  helped  to  make  it  full  for  us. 
We  cannot  go  to  him  now,  and  he  cannot  come- 
back to  us.  He  ma}'  be  close  to  us  in  that 
invisible  world  which  surrounds  us  with  its 
peopled  and  solemn  mystery,  but  that  does  not 
seem  to  go  far.  When  we  want  counsels  of 
wisdom  or  glances  of  tenderness,  there  is  a 
great  gap  in  life,  and  no  one  else  can  fill  it. 

Then  sometimes  we  weep  (and  these  are 
perhaps  the   saddest    tears  of  all)  from   the  self- 


96  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

accusings  of  a  too  late  regret.  Have  we  been 
unjust,  impatient,  resentful,  negligent  ?  Our 
faults  come  back  to  us  in  the  hour  of  farewell 
and  sting  us  like  hornets.  Or  they  have  sinned, 
for  they  were  men.  Have  we  done  what  it 
was  suitable  for  us  to  do,  with  all  gentleness, 
but  with  all  plainness,  to  point  out  their  sin  ? 
Regrets  may  be  unavailing,  but  they  are  at  least 
the  pulsings  of  generous  hearts,  which  in  con- 
fessing the  past  give  hope  for  the  future. 

Once  more  we  weep — and  it  was  this  that 
gave  its  special  mournfulness  to  Mary's  tears — 
from  a  sense  of  irreparable  loss.  In  losing- 
Jesus  she  seemed  to  have  lost  all  that  made  life 
beautiful,  sorrow  bearable,  goodness  possible, 
duty  joyful.  His  serene  authority,  which  made 
it  a  keen  delight  to  obey  Him  ;  His  penetrating- 
words,  which  reached  all  her  nature,  and  at 
once  stirred,  illuminated,  and  satisfied  it ;  His 
tender  friendship,  which  discovered  and  inter- 
preted and  soothed  all  the  innermost  longings 
of  her  heart ;  the  spotless  holiness,  which  did 
not  appal  but  attracted,  did  not  frighten  but 
cheered  ;  the  face  so  wonderful  in  its  solemn 
beauty  ;  the  dignity,  by  which  He  bore  the  mien 
of  a  king  walking  through  the  world  in  disguise 
— all  this  was  gone,  and  nothing  of  it  remained 
but  the  recollection  of  an  exquisite  goodness. 
To  have  even  had  but  one  glimpse  of  it  was  no 
doubt  a  possession  for  ever,  but  to  have  Him 
only  to  lose  Him  was  to  give  her  the  feeling  of 


CHRIS  I    RISEN  97 

being  suddenly  and  hopelessly  poor.  So  we 
too,  in  our  measure,  feel  about  our  friends, 
when  we  discover,  a  little  too  late,  how  precious 
they  were  to  us,  and  desire  to  recover  the 
opportunities  now  for  ever  gone.  A  wife 
mourning  for  a  husband,  a  child  for  a  parent, 
a  sister  for  a  brother,  a  friend  for  a  friend,  all 
indicate  and  express  varieties  of  the  loss  which 
death  compels.      Yet  it  is  also  true  that — 

'  Tis  better  to  have  loved  and  lost, 
Than  never  to  have  loved  at  all. 

In  conclusion,  "Why  weepest  thou?"  will 
one  day  be  the  question  put  to  the  child,  or  Home 
friend,  or  kinsman,  or  neighbour,  wrhen  strong'7""^" 
hands  carry  us  to  the  grave,  to  which  we  have 
so  often  followed  others,  and  when  a  not  inaccu- 
rate or  unjust  verdict  on  the  quality  and  useful- 
ness of  our  lives  will  be  pronounced  by  those 
who  stand  by.  Will  there  really  be  any  to 
weep  for  us  ?  Will  there  be  any  whom  we 
have  helped,  taught,  comforted,  and  brought  to 
Jesus  —friends  like  those  who  wept  for  Dorcas, 
when  Peter  came  to  raise  her ;  friends  like  those 
who  well-nigh  broke  St.  Paul's  heart  with  then- 
protestations  and  weepings,  when  he  was  bent 
on  going  up  to  Jerusalem  with  his  life  in  his 
hand  ?  Oh,  that  we  may  live,  so  as  after  death 
still  to  inspire  duty,  and  to  check  sin,  and  to 
restrain  indulgence,  and  to  comfort  sorrow. 
Then  the  sobs  of  the  mourning  will  mean   the 

G 


9S  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

song  of  the  angels,  and  the  tears  of  man  will  be 
the  smile  of  God.  When  we  weep  for  others 
let  not  our  reasonable,  our  legitimate  sorrow  be 
embittered  by  rebelliousness,  or  exasperated  by 
unbelief.  If  only  we  can  indulge  the  humble 
hope  that  they  are  with  Jesus,  of  this  we  may  be 
well  assured,  that  however  much  they  love  us 
and  wish  for  our  company — and  they  do  continue 
to  love  us  and  wish  for  our  company — it  is  not 
in  the  direction  of  wanting  to  come  back  to  us, 
but  of  wanting  us  to  go  up  to  them.  If  we  can 
hope,  with  good  grounds  for  our  hope,  that  they 
are  with  Jesus,  this  too  may  we  also  hope,  that 
Jesus  is  with  us.  He  is  the  living  bond  between 
us  both. 

He  is  very  gentle  and  patient  and  tender  with 
us  in  the  first  paroxysm  of  sorrow.  He  waits 
to  speak  until  we  are  able  to  hear  Him,  and  then 
speaks  but  a  few  words  at  a  time,  as  we  are 
ready  to  bear  it.  But  He  expects  to  be  trusted, 
and  He  claims  to  be  obeyed.  He  tasted  death 
that  He  might  conquer  death,  and  in  His  right 
hand  now  are  the  keys  of  death  and  Hades.  If 
we  really  believe  that  He  died  and  rose  again, 
even  so  those  that  sleep  in  Jesus  shall  God  bring 
with  Him. 

"  Why  weepest  thou  ?  Whom  seekest  thou?" 
said  the  Lord.  Mary  wept  for  Jesus,  and  sought 
Jesus,  and  this  blessed  woman  found  Him,  found 
Him  before  the  disciples  found  Him,  found  Him 
through  the  greatness  of  her  ignorant  love.      To 


CHRIST  RISEN  99 

seek  for  Jesus,  to  find  Him,  to  keep  Him,  and  to 
wait  for  Him  from  Heaven  is  the  one  secret  of 
peace  about  our  friends  when  they  leave  us,  of 
reunion  with  our  friends  when  we  join  them. 
Judging  from  the  somewhat  perilous  assurance 
of  many  who  speak  about  meeting  their  friends 
in  a  better  world,  when  neither  they  nor  their 
friends  gave  much  attention  to  it  while  living  in 
this  one,  we  may  well,  as  there  is  occasion, 
remind  others,  and  be  continually  recollecting 
ourselves,  that  the  only  well-grounded  hope  of 
living  and  reigning  with  Christ  in  the  world  to 
come,  is  living  and  suffering  and  working  for 
Him  in  this  present  world.  Balaam  could  utter 
the  pious  hope  that  he  might  "  die  the  death  of 
the  righteous,"  but  he  met  his  death  fighting 
among  the  foes  of  God. 


HI 
THE  SPIRITUAL  BODY 

Hcmo  are  Hie  dead  raised  up;  and  70////  what  body  do  they  com,-  ' 
1  COH.   xv.   35. 

CT.   PAUL  resents  this  question,  as  savouring 

either  of  levity  or  captiousness.      While,  of  The  nature 
course,  it  is  possible  to  ask    it    in    a  reasonable  %*j? rtsea 
and   becoming    spirit — the   whole   subject  is   in- 
tensely  interesting   to   a   thoughtful    mind — we 


ioo  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

must  always  remember  the  limitations  of  our 
knowledge.  We  will  remember  also  how  the 
Sadducees,  whom  the  apostle  doubtless  had  in 
his  mind,  strove,  when  tempting  the  Lord,  to 
discredit  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  by  the 
suggestion  of  extravagant  contingencies,  which, 
as  he  clearly  showed,  will  never  happen.  To 
desire  to  understand  all  that  God  reveals,  and  to 
be  content  not  to  understand  what  it  has  not 
pleased  Him  to  reveal,  are  but  different  phases  of 
"  the  obedience  of  faith." 

"  How  are  the  dead  raised  up  "  is  a  question 
which  apparently  points  to  the  mode  or  manner 
of  the  resurrection.  The  answer  to  be  given, 
and  it  is  the  only  answer,  is,  "  by  the  mighty 
power  of  God."  Each  person  of  the  blessed 
Trinity  is  said  in  Holy  Scripture  to  have  a  share 
in  it.  Call  it  by  whatever  name  you  please,  and 
describe  it  as  miraculous  or  supernatural,  it  is, 
it  must  be,  the  direct  interposition  of  the  personal 
action  of  God.  If  God  is  what  we  usually  con- 
ceive Him  to  be,  Almighty,  it  is  a  childish  and 
even  fatuous  absurdity  to  deny  Him  the  power 
of  raising  the  dead  ;  and  this  St.  Paul  had  plainly 
in  his  mind  when  he  pleaded  before  Agrippa, 
"  Why  should  it  be  thought  a  thing  incredible 
with  you  that  God  should  raise  the  dead  ?  "  If 
He  is  not  God,  and  so  the  attribute  of  omnipo- 
tence does  not  belong  to  Him,  certainly  there  is 
no  resurrection.  The  matter  is  ended  ;  the 
grave  closes  all ;  the  fool  was  right  when  he  said, 


CHRIST   RISEb  ioi 

"  There  is  no  God."  A  verse  in  the  Romans 
compactly  summarises  the  divine  agency  in  the 
matter.  Other  passages  corroborate  the  parti- 
culars of  it.  "  If  the  spirit  of  Him  that  raised 
up  Jesus  from  the  dead  dwell  in  you,  He  that 
raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead  shall  also  quicken 
your  mortal  bodies  by  His  spirit  that  dwelleth  in 
you."  It  was  the  Father  that  raised  up  Jesus. 
So  said  St.  Peter :  "  The  God  of  our  fathers 
raised  up  Jesus,  whom  ye  slew  and  hanged  on  a 
tree.  Him  hath  God  exalted  to  His  right  hand 
to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour."  St.  Paul  wrote 
to  the  Romans  :  "  And  declared  to  be  the  Son  of 
God  with  power  according  to  the  spirit  of  holi- 
ness, by  the  resurrection  from  the  dead."  But 
the  work  of  raising  the  dead  in  the  general 
resurrection  at  the  last  day  the  Father  has  com- 
mitted to  the  Son,  as  a  function  of  the  media- 
torial office.  "  As  the  Father  raiseth  up  the 
dead  and  quickeneth  them,  even  so  the  Son 
quickeneth  whom  He  will.  For  as  the  Father 
hath  life  in  Himself,  even  so  hath  He  given  to 
the  Son  to  have  life  in  Himself.  The  hour  is 
coming  in  the  which  all  that  are  in  the  graves 
shall  hear  His  voice."  But  as  St.  Paul  makes 
clear  from  the  passage  already  quoted,  it  is 
the  Holy  Spirit  who  will  quicken  our  mortal 
bodies,  when  the  end  comes  and  the  time  is 
ripe. 

Beyond    this   we   cannot   tell,   for  we  do  not 
know.      The  method   and   the  time  of  the  resur- 


102  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

rcction  are  among  the  hidden  things  of  God,  and 
we  will  leave  them  there. 

On  the  second  limb  of  the  question,  "  With 
what  body  are  they  raised  ? "  the  Apostle 
animadverts  with  an  almost  severe  irony.  He 
answers  it  by  constructing  a  parable.  The  dead 
body  is  the  seed.  The  grave  is  the  earth  in 
which  it  is  deposited.  The  resurrection  body  is 
not  a  mere  reproduction  of  the  seed  thus  depo- 
sited, but  is  something  quite  different — as  diffe- 
rent as  a  full  head  of  corn  is  from  a  single  grain  ; 
and  with  this  additional  distinction,  that  in 
earthly  sowings  many  seeds  prove  unproductive 
and  are  wasted,  here  "  to  every  seed  its  own 
body."  The  divine  sovereignty  is  asserted  and 
maintained.  "  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath 
pleased  Him."  It  is  to  be  raised  in  incorruption, 
in  glory,  in  power,  a  spiritual  body,  to  bear  the 
image  of  the  heavenly,  when  this  corruptible 
shall  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall 
put  on  immortality. 

The  Lord's       It   may   be  said   that,  after  all,  these  are   but 

risen  bodv  .  .      . 

typical  of    vague  and  somewhat  shadowy  expressions,  sug- 

ours.  gesting  great  ideas,  but   not  clothing  them  with 

objective  realities,  enough   for  hope  and  a  noble 

delight    in    the    contemplation   of    things   which 

"God   hath  prepared   for  them   that  love   Him," 

but  advisedly  and  mercifully  obscure.     We  have, 

however,  one  distinct  and  typical  instance  of  the 

resurrection   life  in  all  its  completeness — that  of 

our  Lord   during   His    forty  days'  sojourn  before 


CHRIST  RISEN  103 

lie  ascended  into  Heaven;  and  from  the  reve- 
rent consideration  of  the  resurrection  body  in 
which  He  was  pleased  to  clothe  His  glorified 
humanity  after  He  had  conquered  death  we  may 
safely  and  accurately  infer  these  four  particulars. 
There  will  be  a  continuity  between  the  earthly 
body  and  the  glorified  body  so  as  to  maintain 
and  manifest  the  personal  identity  of  the  two. 
There  will  be  still  the  wonderful  and  perhaps 
unsurpassable  human  form,  though  what  will  be 
its  organic  developments  and  its  methods  of 
sustaining  life  can  hardly  be  said  to  be  revealed. 
There  will  be  an  adaptation  of  the  risen  body  to 
the  uses  and  employments  and  activities  for 
which  in  the  will  of  God  it  will  be  designed. 
Our  Lord  had  the  power  of  appearing  and  dis- 
appearing, of  coming  and  going,  of  concealing 
Himself  and  revealing  Himself,  which  it  is  not 
perhaps  necessary  to  suppose  was  a  prerogative 
of  His  divinit}'.  Angels,  for  example,  as  their 
appearances  in  Holy  Scripture  are  from  time  to 
time  described,  seem  to  possess  such  a  power. 
'There  will  be  also,  as  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
conjecture,  a  close  and  inevitable,  and  even 
judicial,  relation  between  the  life  of  the  body, 
whether  physical,  or  moral,  or  intellectual,  as 
lived  on  earth,  and  the  tabernacle  which  it  will 
be  given  to  inherit  all  through  the  ages  to  come. 
A  child's  risen  glory  will  hardly  be  as  a  man's. 
The  thief  on  the  cross  will  not  shine  as  St.  John 
will  shine.      Martyrs  will  have  their  pre-eminent 


104  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

splendour ;  and  those  who  have  been  saved  as 
by  fire  will  have  their  place,  and  their  song,  and 
their  duty,  but  not  in  front. 

Let  us  in  conclusion  observe  three  things. 
There  is  no  real  inconsistency  between  what  has 
been  well  called  "identity  and  variety";  in  our 
being  different  in  the  life  to  come  from  what  we 
are  now,  and  yet  being  the  very  selves  which 
lived  and  acted  here.  There  is,  for  instance,  an 
immense  difference  between  the  patriarch  of 
eighty  and  the  infant  of  an  hour,  so  immense 
that  he  who  had  seen  only  the  infant  or  only 
the  patriarch  would  find,  in  this  world  at  least, 
recognition  impossible.  Yet  the  patriarch  is  in 
a  real  sense  the  infant,  only  in  its  development 
and  completion.  So  will  it  be  in  the  resurrec- 
tion glory  of  the  life  to  come ;  and  surely  a 
faculty  of  recognition  will  be  among  the  many 
endowments  of  that  wonderful  and  incompre- 
hensible condition  to  enable  us  to  vindicate  the 
righteousness  of  God,  and  to  observe  the  re- 
compense of  man.  The  seed-corn  will  be  no 
less  identical  with  the  glorious  ear  that  has 
sprung  from  it  than  the  glorified  saint  with  the 
imperfect  though  sincere  believer. 

The  apostle  again  distinctly  emphasises  the 
fact  of  degrees  in  glory  from  another  side,  repro- 
ducing and  enforcing  the  doctrine  in  his  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians — "Every  man  shall 
receive  his  own  reward  according  to  his  own 
labour."  There  arc  in  the  physical  universe  suns 
and   stars  ;   and  in  the  life  to  come  there  will   be 


CHRIST  RISEN  105 

suns  and  stars.  The  sun's  glory  will  be  greater 
than  the  star's  ;  but  the  star  will  have  a  glory  of 
its  own,  and  need  not  be  ashamed  of  it,  and  will 
not  be  capable  of  being  mortified  by  its  littleness. 
There  will  be  no  envy,  no  jealousy,  no  grudging, 
no  discontent  there.  The  sun's  glory  will  not 
put  out  the  star's  glory ;  and  the  star's  glory 
will  add  to  the  splendour  of  the  sun. 

One  more  lesson,  and  not  quite  a  needless 
one.  Let  us  learn  from  the  apostle  not  only 
to  look  upon  Heaven  as  a  compensation  for  our 
life  on  earth,  but  as  a  development  and  continua- 
tion and  result  of  it  ;  to  regard  our  life  here 
as  the  school-time,  the  training-ground,  the  awful 
yet  delightful  threshold  for  the  eternal  ages  of 
the  life  with  God.  Our  self-cultivation,  our 
love  of  all  things  beautiful  and  elevating  and 
pure,  our  humanness  of  nature,  our  aspirations 
after  better  things,  our  noble  dreams  after  human 
progress,  our  grand  discontent  with  failure  and 
oppression,  our  completeness  and  symmetry  and 
equilibrium  of  existence  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit, 
may  or  may  not  be  appreciated  now,  may  or 
may  not  be  self-recompensing  in  the  few  years 
of  our  mortal  life.  But  they  are  a  portion  of 
ourselves,  they  are  seeds  which  have  their 
germination  and  harvesting  in  front,  they  are 
shaping  and  forming  and  beautifying  that  glori- 
fied nature,  in  which  some  day  we  hope  to  join 
the  just  made  perfect,  and,  better  still,  to  inherit  the 
vision  of  God  :  when  "  They  shall  see  His  face, 
and  His  name  shall  be  in  their  foreheads." 


106  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

IV 

THE  CHALLENGE   TO  DEATH      • 

O  death,   where  is  thy  sti/i^ .'     O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  f 
i  COR.  xv.   55. 

'""PHE  apostle's  heart  is  on  fire.  He  is  not 
reasoning  or  arguing  now.  Shadows  and 
doubts  and  perplexities  are  far  beneath  him, 
like  mists  on  the  face  of  a  swamp  for  the  tra- 
veller who  is  climbing  the  hill.  His  enraptured 
vision  already  penetrates  the  invisible  world. 
He  hears  the  trumpet  sound,  he  sees  the  graves 
open,  above  him  in  the  parting  clouds  the  Lord 
of  Hades  is  seated  in  glory  ;  all  round  him,  in 
the  ecstasy  of  his  enraptured  vision,  the  saints 
are  being  clothed  with  their  immortal  bodies, 
and  death  is  being  swallowed  up  of  life.  He 
even  apostrophises  and  challenges  and  taunts 
death,  the  universal  conqueror,  with  its  own 
discomfiture  and  disgrace ;  and  dares  to  make 
nothing  of  it,  with  all  its  anguish  and  terror, 
in  view  of  the  resurrection  triumph.  "O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  grave,  where  is  thy 
victory  ?  " 
Why  has  Let    us    glance    for  a  moment    at    what  the 

apostle  calls  the  sting   of  death,  and   the  victory 
of  the  grave  ;   and  then  try  to  steep  and  envelop 


death 
slins 


CHRIST  RISEN  107 

our  spirits  in    the   golden   atmosphere   of  hope 

and  gladness  and  triumph  in  which  his  lofty 
spirit  rose  above  the  lamentations  and  desola- 
tions and  partings  and  lonelinesses  of  death,  to 
the  contemplation  of  the  final  joy.  The  word 
"sting"  here  is  in  the  original  the  word  which 
in  the  Acts  (in  St.  Paul's  defence  of  himself 
before  Agrippa)  is  rendered  "  prick."  It  is  a 
sting  that  gives  a  sharp  and  piercing  wound. 

There  are  many  things  to  make  death  sad, 
lonely,  and  terrible.  But  the  sting  is  in  the 
recollection  of  sin.  Whether  the  apostle  here 
had  in  his  mind  the  deepening  penitence  of  the 
dying  saint,  who,  while  he  clings  to  the  cross, 
does  not  wish  to  forget  why  he  needs  to  cling 
to  it  ;  who,  while  he  has  perfect  and  unwavering 
trust  in  the  power  of  the  precious  blood  to  make 
him  whiter  than  snow,  feels  the  shamefulness 
of  the  stains  while  he  accepts  the  gift  of  the 
whiteness,  we  will  not  pause  to  inquire.  To 
some  it  is  a  needful  though  an  awful  discipline 
to  have  the  heart  once  more  broken  for  the  sins 
of  years  ago,  before  they  go  to  the  Judge. 
Others,  not  of  necessity  saintlier,  seem  to  dis- 
appear in  a  rapture  of  thankfulness.  This  also 
is  worth  observing,  that  those  about  whose  ac- 
ceptance we  feel  most  uneasy  and  uncertain  are 
not  unfrequently  those  who  have  no  sense  of 
sin  and  no  fear  of  judgment,  who  go  because 
they  can't  help  going,  but  to  whom  God  is  not 
Father  nor  Heaven  home.      There  is  not  uncom- 


io8  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

monly  a  curious  stolidity  and  insensibility  about 
the  very  souls  which  we  should  have  thought 
beforehand  would  have  shivered  and  trembled  at 
death.  They  pass,  and  we  do  not  know  what 
happens  to  them,  except  that  God  is  more  mer- 
ciful than  man,  and  that  His  righteousness  is 
the  righteousness  of  Him  whose  name  and  nature 
is  Love. 
The  nature  The  sting  of  death  perhaps  means  three 
s  "^'things.  So  far  as  anything  we  can  do  is  con- 
cerned, sin  is  irremediable,  it  is  irrevocable,  it  is 
inextinguishable.  No  tears,  no  sacrifices,  no 
prayers  of  ours  can  heal  its  deadly  wound. 
There  it  is  still  doing  its  deadly  work,  sowing 
itself,  multiplying  itself,  from  soul  to  soul,  from 
family  to  family,  from  nation  to  nation,  from  age 
to  age.  Our  sins  against  our  own  souls  are 
bad  enough,  but  the  sins  which  we  have  tempted 
others  to  sin  are  perhaps  the  most  intolerable. 
But  as  we  tempted  our  fellows,  they  have 
tempted  others  ;  and  sometimes  to  a  good  man, 
even  in  his  latest  days,  the  thought  of  a  youthful 
folly  or  the  companionship  with  a  multitude  to  do 
evil,  works  in  the  memory  with  a  sharp  jerk  of 
anguish. 

How  does  the  resurrection  turn  this  "  mourn- 
ing into  joy,  and  give  us  the  garment  of  praise 
for  the  spirit  of  heaviness  ?  "  St.  Paul  answers 
the  question  elsewhere  in  his  great  argument  to 
the  Romans  on  peace  by  faith — "  Who  shall  lay 
anything    to   the   charge  of  God's  elect  ?      It  is 


CHRIST  RISEN  109 

God  that  justifieth."  "  Who  shall  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  ....  As  it  is  written, 
for  Thy  sake  we  are  killed  all   the  clay  long,  we 

are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter 

Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  con- 
querors through  Him  that  loved  us."  He  Who 
has  seen  it  all,  and  abhors  it  all,  He  against 
Whom  it  was  sinned,  He  Who  suffered,  as  no 
human  mind  can  know,  to  put  it  away,  is  pleased 
to  forgive,  wholly,  freely,  publicly,  instantly, 
finally ;  and  if  He  can  forgive  us,  who  are  we 
to  say  it  is  impossible  we  can  be  forgiven  ?  If 
His  death  procures  the  forgiveness,  and  His 
resurrection  confirms  it,  and  His  ascension  applies 
it,  and  His  advent  in  glory  proclaims  it,  let  us 
not  presume  to  be  holier  or  wiser  than  He  is  : 
our  faith  shall  save  us,  we  will  go  in  peace. 

/  know  Thee,  Saviour,  who  Thou  art  ; 

jfesus,  the  feeble  sinner's  friend  ! 
Nor  wilt  Thou  with  the  night  depart, 

But  stay,  and  love  me  to  the  end/ 
Thy  mercies  never  shall  remove, 
Thy  nature  and  Thy  name  is  love. 

The  victory  of  the  grave  is  to  the  eye  of  sense,  The  resur- 
and  in  the  experience  of  humanity,  a  victory 
indeed.  Of  all  the  millions  that  have  lived  upon 
the  earth  since  man  was  placed  in  it,  but  two 
have  escaped  its  doom.  It  is  not  only  an  uni- 
versal victory,  but  it  is  such  a  complete  one. 
Any  one  who  had  not  the  Christian's  Gospel  to 


rection 
rictory. 


no  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

instruct  him,  and  the  Christian's  hope  to  inspire 
him,  might  be  pardoned  for  thinking  that  when 
the  grave  is  shut  all  is  buried  there.  It  is 
silence,  and  a  silence  that  sinks  into  the  soul  with 
an  appalling  frost.  It  is  not  only  a  complete 
victory,  but  apparently  it  is  a  final  one.  In  a 
few  years'  time  all  that  is  left  of  the  form  once 
radiant  with  beauty,  and  active  with  intelligence, 
is  a  handful  of  bones  between  some  mouldering 
boards.  It  is  also  a  disappointing  and  a  humili- 
ating victory.  The  Lord  stooped  to  taste  it,  but 
it  was  one  of  the  profoundest  features  in  the 
history  of  His  Passion.  Not  all,  however,  have 
a  tragic  dignity  about  their  death,  not  all  die  at  a 
solemn  gathering  of  their  friends.  Some  die  by 
inches  long  before  death  actually  seizes  them  : 
the  pain  and  the  slowness  and  the  humiliations 
and  infirmities  of  dying  almost  earn  death  his 
awful  title  of  "king  of  terrors"  more  than  the 
dissolution  itself.  And  to  this  the  apostle  puts 
the  jubilant,  triumphant  question,  "  Where  is  tlry 
victory  ?  In  the  resurrection  thou  shalt  be 
robbed  of  it  ;  in  the  resurrection  thou  shalt  con- 
fess thy  discomfiture,  and  surrender  thy  power." 
When  there  is  no  more  sin  there  is  no  more 
death.  Whatever  the  promise  may  actually 
mean,  whenever  the  time  for  accomplishing  it 
arrives,  the  word  of  God  standeth  sure. 

"  I  saw  the  dead  small  and  great  stand  before 
God  ;  and  the  books  were  opened,  and  another 
book  was  opened,  which  is  the  book  of  life,  and 


I  HRIST  RISEN  in 

the   dead    were  judged  out   of  the   things   which 

were    written    in    the    hooks    according   to    their 

works.      And   the  sea  gave   up  the   dead    which 

were  in    it,  and  death    and    hell   delivered  up   the 

dead  which  were  in  them  ;   and  they  werejudged 

every  man   according  to   his  works.      And   death 

and  hell  were  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire." 

Three   inspiring  lessons   St.    Paul   presses   on  /.,•„„„,  ,,/• 

the  Church  from  this  doctrine  of  the  resurrection.  /he  n'u"'- 

recnon, 

The  first  is  thankfulness,  the  second  is  diligence, 
the  third  is  hope.  We  are  to  be  thankful,  for 
the  resurrection  is  a  victory,  and  the  victory  is 
God's  gift  to  us,  and  the  gift  comes  by  and 
through  Christ.  "  Thanks  be  to  God,  which 
giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  St  Paul  was  no  pessimist,  and  the 
religion  of  Christ  is  an  anthem  of  joy.  St.  Paul, 
out  of  his  Roman  prison,  could  press  on  the 
Church  as  its  grand  duty  to  rejoice  in  the  Lord. 
We  are  not  to  look  back,  but  to  look  forward  ; 
not  only  to  look  round,  but  to  look  up.  Our 
best  is  coming,  and  to  think  of  it  helps  us  to  earn 
it.  Our  sorrow  is  passing,  and  soon  it  will  be 
swallowed  up  in  joy.  "  Our  light  affliction, 
which  is  but  for  a  moment,  worketh  for  us  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory — for 
we  have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

This  being  so,  how  diligent  we  ought  to  be, 
presses  the  apostle.  "  Be  ye  steadfast,  immov- 
able, always  abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord." 


H2  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Filled  hands  and  filled  hours  and  filled  hearts 
shall  mean  one  day  a  glad  welcome  and  a  bright 
crown.  Let  us  think  not  only  of  dear  and  dying- 
faces,  bearing  in  their  worn  outlines  the  marks  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  but  of  saints  and  prophets  of 
God,  radiant  in  their  resurrection  glory  and  un- 
fading brightness,  rejoicing  as  a  giant  to  run  their 
race. 

This  being  so,  let  us  hope,  and  not  be 
ashamed  ;  hope,  and  not  be  wailing  with  dismal 
voices  over  buried  efforts  and  wasted  strength  ; 
hope,  for  Jesus  is  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and 
He  has  given  us  a  share  in  His  saving  work,  and 
He  will  see  that  His  grace  sfoes  with  it. 


CHRIST    ASCENDED 


Faith  is  moved  by  but  one  solitary  passion — the  hope  oj 
cleaving  closer  and  ever  closer  to  the  Being  of  God. 

Canon  Scott  Holland. 


FAITH  IN  CHRIST 

Dost  than  believe  on  the  Son  of  God  f — JOHN  ix.   35. 

TWO  assertions  may  be  made  about  Jesus 
of  Nazareth  without  fear  of  contradiction 
from  any  one.  One  is,  that  His  life  and  death, 
and  teaching  and  claims  have  made  more  stir, 
compelled  more  controversy,  and  produced  more 
results,  than  the  life  and  death,  and  the  teaching 
and  claims  of  any  figure  in  history  during  the 
last  two  thousand  years.  The  other  is,  that 
while  those  who  have  not  felt  able  to  concede  all 
His  claims  sometimes  outvie  those  who  do  con- 
cede them  in  their  reverence  for  His  character, 
and  their  recognition  of  His  influence,  those 
who  give  Him  what  he  asks  for — intelligent  and 
devout  worship — have  ever  ranked  among  the 
purest  and  most  beneficent  of  mankind.  During 
His  earthly  ministry,  while  public  opinion,  both 
in  the  provinces  and  in  the  capital,  was  violently 
agitated   with   discussing   His  motives   and    His 


Il6  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

authority,  Christ  Himself  again  and  again 
inquired  of  His  disciples,  not  only  "  Whom  do 
men  say  that  I  the  Son  of  Man  am  ?  "  but  also 
"Whom  say  ye  that  I  am?"  He  was  very 
careful  to  make  it  plain,  that  though  for  other 
persons,  and  in  questions  of  less  import,  a  position 
of  indecision  and  of  neutrality  might  be  reason- 
able and  prudent,  in  His  case  such  an  attitude 
was  impossible.  There  are  not  three  sides  in 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  there  are  only  two.  "  He 
that  is  not  with  Me  is  against  Me."  Not  to 
take  the  side  of  Jesus  is  to  go  against  Him. 
Indecision  is  the  moral  condition  of  a  heart 
which  really  says  "  No." 
The  The  Church   declares  of  the   Lord,  that    He 

teaching,  is  "  perfect  God  and  perfect  man,  of  a  reason- 
able soul  and  human  flesh  subsisting ;  who, 
although  He  be  God  and  man,  yet  He  is  not 
two  but  one  Christ  ;  one  not  by  conversion 
of  the  Godhead  into  flesh,  but  by  taking  of 
the  manhood  into  God."  In  His  life  on  earth, 
He  emptied  Himself  of  His  glory,  suffering  not 
His  eternal  Godhead  to  obtrude  its  majesty,  so 
as  to  compel  men  to  a  submission  which  could 
be  of  no  moral  value,  unless  it  were  the  obedi- 
ence of  faith.  He  would  not  use  the  super- 
natural power  bestowed  on  Him  for  the  supply 
of  His  own  necessities,  or  for  the  diminution  of 
the  discomforts  and  inconveniences  which  con- 
tinually beset  Him,  or  for  the  defeat  of  His 
enemies,    or    for    any    other    purpose   whatever 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  117 

except  that  for  which  it  was  given  Him — the 
manifestation  of  the  Father's  purpose  and  char- 
acter, and  the  practical  illustration  and  expo- 
sition of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  He  had  come 
to  set  up  on  the  earth.  Now  and  then,  as  it  must 
be  admitted,  flashes  of  His  divine  glory  seem 
to  come  forth  from  Him,  to  the  dismay  and 
wonder  of  men,  and  at  moments  when  we  should 
least  have  looked  for  them.  Once  He  walks  on 
the  water,  made  angry  by  a  midnight  storm,  as 
no  other  son  of  man  ever  did  before  or  after 
Him,  as  if  to  show  to  His  apostles,  tossed  in 
the  waves,  that  He  was  Lord  of  nature  as  well 
as  of  men.  When  they  came  to  seize  Him  for 
His  Passion,  before  the  traitor's  kiss  defiled  Him 
or  Simon's  rashness  strove  to  defend  Him,  as 
He  met  them  to  surrender  Himself  and  to  pro- 
tect His  disciples,  such  was  the  unspeakable 
majesty  of  One  Who  had  just  been  wrestling 
with  God,  and  to  Whose  exhausted  nature  angels 
had  ministered,  that  a  strange  awe  fell  on  them, 
and  His  voice  had  a  presage  of  judgment  in  it. 
They  went  back,  and  fell  to  the  ground,  unmanned 
for  their  deed  of  treason. 

But  it  was  His  rule  to  conceal  the  mystery  of 
His  Godhead,  and  when  St.  Peter  confessed  it, 
he  was  bidden  to  keep  it  secret  ;  men  were  to 
discover  it  for  themselves,  by  the  teaching  ol 
the  Spirit  and  their  own  reflection.  No  one  is 
ever  compelled  to  believe.  The  worship  is  ac- 
ceptable only  when  the  will  is  free.     There  are, 


nS  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

however,  four  crucial  instances,  that  may  be  called 
specimen  and  typical  cases,  in  which  the  Lord 
distinctly  and  unreservedly  disclosed  the  august 
secret  of  His  work  and  person.  We  will  glance 
at  them,  that  we  may  learn  from  them  the 
abiding  and  immutable  conditions  under  which, 
to-day,  He  discovers  Himself  to  men.  In  each 
of  these  He  gives  a  different  glimpse  of  His 
work  and  office.  One  was  to  a  stranger  ;  one  to 
a  person  whom  He  had  healed ;  one  to  a  beloved 
friend  ;  one  to  a  heathen.  In  three  of  them  His 
message  wins,  in  the  last  it  fails. 
^our  The  first  is  by  a  well  near  a  Samaritan  village, 

incidents.  .  J  .  .  ° 

where,  in  the  sovereign  exercise  of  an  inscrutable 
but  pitiful  goodness,  He  shows  to  a  churlish 
and  stained  woman,  yet  one  who,  as  we  say, 
had  good  points  in  her,  at  once  her  great  sin 
and  her  full  salvation.  "  I  that  speak  to  thee 
am  He."  Was  there  ever  a  fuller,  plainer, 
kinder  gospel  than  this  preached  to  a  sin- 
burdened  soul  ?  Why  did  the  Lord  do  this 
there,  then,  and  with  that  woman  ?  His  errand 
to  Samaria  was  an  anticipation  and  presage 
(St.  Peter  must  often  have  thought  of  it  after- 
wards) of  the  opening  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven 
to  the  Gentile  world.  This  was  in  the  com- 
mencement of  the  first  Galilean  ministry,  and 
might  have  been  impossible  afterwards.  The 
woman  was  a  born  missionary.  The  Lord  saw 
this  quality  in  her,  and  resolved  to  use  it,  and 
bore  with   her  till    she  was   qualified   to  use   it. 


CHRIS1     ISCENDED  tig 

"  Come  and   sec    a   man   which  told  me   all   that 

ever  I  did — is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  "  Here  is 
at  once  the  missionary  errand,  the  missionary 
tidings,  and  the  missionary  spirit.  We  never 
hear  of  her  again  ;  but  we  think  of  the  fields  made 
white  with  the  harvest  of  those  Samaritan  souls 
the  Lord  reaped  afterwards  with  His  own  hands. 

Time  goes  on.  In  Jerusalem  the  Lord  sees 
a  man  who  was  blind  from  his  birth,  puts  clay 
on  his  eyes,  bids  him  go  wash  in  Siloam,  leaves 
him  and  goes  His  way.  The  man  is  cured,  but 
has  a  bad  time  of  it.  The  Jews  are  not  pleased 
with  him  for  having  giving  Jesus  an  opportunity 
of  manifesting  His  divine  power.  When  they 
cannot  by  browbeating  and  cross-questioning 
force  him  to  any  disparagement  of  his  unknown 
friend's  character  and  life,  they  goad  him  into 
a  generous  anger,  and  then  cast  him  out.  He 
does  not  ask  to  be  kept  in.  Jesus  finds  him, 
reads  his  heart,  admires  his  courage,  sees  that 
there  is  the  making  of  a  disciple  in  him,  puts  to 
him  the  most  crucial,  searching,  tremendous 
question  even  He  ever  put  to  any  one,  "  Dost 
thou  believe  on  the  Son  of  God  ? "  and  when 
the  healed  man  replied,  "  Who  is  He,  Lord, 
that  I  might  believe  on  Him  ?"  answered,  "Thou 
hast  both  seen  Him,  and  it  is  He  which  speaketh 
unto  thee."  We  know  what  followed  :  "  Lord, 
I  believe  ;  and  he  worshipped  Him." 

We  pass  to    a   little   mountain  village   on   the 
slope    of  a   hill    that   overlooks   the    Holy    City. 


120  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Jesus,  His  disciples  behind  Him,  is  speaking 
tenderly  and  soothingly  to  a  beloved  friend  who 
has  just  lost  her  brother,  and  whose  heart  is 
lacerated  by  the  thought  that  if  Jesus  had  been 
there  he  would  not  have  died.  But  her  tears  are 
not  murmuring  tears,  and  she  has  no  reproach 
in  her  heart  for  the  absence  of  the  one  friend 
who  could  have  saved  her  all  this  sorrow.  Here 
comes  in  a  more  astounding  message  than  has 
ever  yet  left  His  lips.  He  is  not  only  Messiah, 
He  is  not  only  Son  of  God,  but  He  is  the  con- 
queror of  death.  "  I  am  the  Resurrection  and 
and  Life  ;  he  that  believeth  in  Me,  though  he  be 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live  ;  and  whosoever  liveth 
and  believeth  in  Me  shall  never  die." 

First,  the  Saviour,  because  He  is  God  and 
man ;  then  the  Friend,  because  He  is  God  and 
man  ;  then  the  Resurrection  and  the  Life,  be- 
cause He  is  God  and  man.  The  august  majesty 
of  His  incarnate  being  makes  Him  mighty  to  save, 
tender  to  love,  strong  to  deliver. 

Once  more  we  see  Him,  at  the  supreme  moment 
of  His  life,  when  to  all  human  appearance  He 
had  utterly  and  hopelessly  failed,  and  when  He 
who,  as  some  had  hoped,  might  have  redeemed 
Israel  was  given  up  into  the  hands  of  wicked 
men  to  suffer  death  upon  the  cross.  He  stands 
before  the  Roman  procurator.  The  priests 
savagely  denounce  Him  ;  the  mob  shout  for  His 
blood  ;  the  soldiers  laugh  with  savage  insolence 
at  this  new  rival  to   Caesar's  power.     Jesus  is 


CHRIST  ASCEND!-: J >  121 

silent.  The  pagan,  uneasy,  filled  with  bitter 
disdain  for  the  Jews,  touched  with  a  pity  in 
which  awe  was  strangely  mingled  with  contempt, 
and  with  an  evident  vexation  that  the  prisoner  at 
his  bar  seemed  to  care  for  him  no  more  than 
for  a  slave,  asks  Him,  among  other  questions, 
these  three,  which  include  and  recognise  His 
claims.  "  Whence  art  Thou  ? "  No  answer. 
14  Art  Thou  a  King,  then  ?  "  "  Thou  sayest 
that  I  am  a  King,"  was  the  calm  reply.  "  What 
is  truth  ?  "  a  question  to  which  he  did  not  believe 
there  was  an  answer,  a.id  so  he  would  not  wait 
for  it.  Jesus,  because  He  is  God  and  man,  is 
King  ;  but  no  false,  or  worldly,  or  unstable,  or 
sin-loving  soul  ma}'  reckon  itself  among  His 
subjects.  To  be  kings  hereafter  we  must  be 
kings  now  :  ruling  ourselves,  and  sacrificing  our- 
selves for  others.  When  He  stood  before  Pilate, 
the  people  were  divided  between  those  who 
wished  to  crucify  Him  and  those  who  wished  to 
crown  Him.     There  are  no  others  to-day. 


122  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

11 

JESUS  SINLESS 

Which  of  yon  convinceth  me  of  sin  f — John  viii.  46. 

(~\F  all  Christ's  claims  on  the  faith  and  alle- 
^■^  giance  of  mankind,  this,  perhaps,  is  the 
most  astounding.  When  He  promised  rest  to 
the  weary  and  heavy-laden,  only  experience 
could  test  the  worth  of  His  promise,  and  ex- 
perience takes  time.  When  He  said  that  if 
lifted  up  from  the  earth  He  would  draw  all  men 
unto  Him,  He  uttered  a  prophecy,  and  anticipated 
a  triumph,  both  of  which  were  in  the  dim  future. 
But  this  assertion  of  His  sinlessness — the  chal- 
lenge both  to  friend  and  foe  in  respect  of  an 
obedience  without  a  flaw,  an  innocence  without 
a  stain,  a  character  without  a  blemish,  a  life 
without  a  shortcoming,  at  once  created  a  moral 
chasm  between  Himself  and  other  men,  which 
was  not  likely  to  predispose  their  self-love  to 
accept  it  instantly  or  cheerfully.  It  is  instruc- 
tive also  to  observe  that  the  verdict  which  He 
claimed  was  readily  and  unhesitatingly  pro- 
nounced by  those  who  were  with  Him  in  the 
most  intimate  moments  of  an  unreserved  com- 
panionship, when  weariness  might  have  unhinged 
His  nerves,  or  opposition  tempted  His  resentment, 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  [23 

when  even  a  momentary  gesture  of  impatience 
would  have  stamped  itself  on  their  memories  as 
inconsistent  with  His  divine  Sonship,  and  when 
the  neglect  of  but  one  opportunity  for  kindness  or 
mercy  might  have  had  a  look  of  self-love.  Yet 
it  is  St.  John,  who  shared  His  deepest  intimacy, 
who  alone  of  the  four  Evangelists  records  this 
challenge  ;  and  St.  Peter,  in  his  first  Epistle, 
adds  his  own  testimony,  "  Who  did  no  sin,  neither 
was  guile  found  in  His  mouth."  His  enemies 
at  the  moment  had  nothing  to  say.  It  is  im- 
portant, also,  to  remark,  in  corroboration  of  His 
absolute  sinlessness,  that  when  Pilate  repeatedly 
asked  the  priests,  who  were  clamouring  for  His 
blood,  "  Why,  what  evil  hath  he  done  ?  "  all  the 
answer  they  could  give  (suflicient,  no  doubt,  for 
their  purpose)  was,  "  We  have  a  law,  and  by 
that  law  he  ought  to  die,  because  he  made  him- 
self the  Son  of  God."  The  two  unique  testi- 
monies at  His  death — unique  because  given  under 
circumstances  where  they  could  least  have  been 
expected,  and  from  persons  presumably  quite 
devoid  of  prejudice  in  His  favour — are  those  of 
two  pagans,  the  Roman  governor  and  the  Roman 
soldier.  Pilate  repeatedly  declared,  "  I  find  no 
fault  in  him  ; "  the  centurion,  as  Jesus  died, 
said  of  Him,  "Truly  this  was  a  righteous 
man." 

First,   let   us  consider   some    features   in   the  Somefaa- 
sinlessness  of  Christ,  which   give  it  significance  ^isshiless- 
and  moment,  and  then  reflect  upon  its  value.         "*•*■ 


I24  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Christ  was  sinless,  in  the  incorrupt  human 
nature  which  He  inherited  from  His  mother, 
"  born  of  a  pure  virgin."  Nothing  of  what  we 
call  "  original  sin  "  was  transmitted  to  Him,  Who 
was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  well  as 
born  of  the  Virgin  Mary. 

Then,  though  He  was  sinless,  His  sinlessness 
was  not  that  of  one  who  was  never  tempted 
to  sin,  and  whose  moral  steadfastness  had  never 
any  strain  put  upon  it.  "  He  was  tempted  in  all 
things  like  as  we  are."  The  temptation  in  the 
wilderness,  of  which  He  Himself  must  have  given 
the  narrative  to  the  apostles  (who  else  could 
have  given  it  ?),  is  confessedly  only  an  episode 
in  a  continually  tempted  life.  The  Evangelist, 
indeed,  expressly  records  that  the  devil  departed 
from  Him  for  a  season.  In  the  garden  and  on 
the  cross  we  feel  sure  that  He  was  assaulted 
again. 

Further,  the  Lord's  natural  disposition,  as  the 
Gospels  make  it  abundantly  evident,  was  not  of  that 
impassive,  unemotional,  phlegmatic  kind  which 
implies  a  sort  of  moral  imperviousness  to  injus- 
tice or  opposition,  and  which  creates  a  sort  of 
temperate  zone  in  which  tropical  storms  or  arctic 
icebergs  neither  wreck  nor  freeze.  He  longed 
for  human  sympathy  ;  He  missed,  and  once 
noticed  when  they  were  denied  Him,  the  cour- 
tesies of  social  life.  He  was  stirred  to  the 
depths  of  His  soul  by  formalism,  cruelty,  and 
injustice.      On    the    Pharisees    His    indignation 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  125 

blazed  in  sentences  that  gleam  with  fire.  Though 
we  never  find  Him  confessing  sin,  whether  in 
word  or  in  deed,  whether  in  omission  or  commis- 
sion, to  God  or  to  man,  He  delighted  in  unfolding 
His  plans  to  His  disciples,  and  in  receiving,  not 
indeed  their  advice,  which  He  never  asked  for, 
but  their  reflections,  which  showed  Him  as  well 
as  themselves  what  was  passing  in  their  minds. 
His  moral  sense  was  full  of  pores,  sensitive  to 
every  passing  circumstance.  A  nature  such  as 
His  must  have  been  peculiarly  liable  to  lose  its 
moral  equilibrium  ;  and  whether  by  the  taunts 
of  enemies  or  the  dulness  of  friends,  become 
unbalanced  and  out  of  control. 

Once  more,  His  sinlessness  must  not  only 
be  explained  by  the  protecting  environment  of 
His  Godhead  sheltering  His  humanity,  united  to  it 
in  the  One  Personality,  from  all  breath  or  chance  of 
sin.  Were  this  all  the  account  of  the  case,  how 
could  He  have  been  tempted  in  all  things  as  we 
are  ?  How  could  He,  in  the  fulness  of  a  personal 
sympathy,  succour  us  who  are  tempted  to-day  ? 
Rather  it  was  by  the  unfailing  presence  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  vouchsafed  to  Him  without  measure 
at  His  baptism,  and  in  absolute  harmony  with 
the  freedom  of  His  human  nature,  illuminating 
His  mind  with  truth,  inspiring  His  will  with 
duty,  inflaming  His  heart  with  love,  elevating 
His  conscience  with  devotion.  It  is  a  great 
mystery,  this  human  life,  this  sinless  perfection, 
this  offering  of  Himself  without  spot  to  God  by 


126  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

one  Who  was  perfect  God    and   perfect   man  ;   a 
mystery  full  of  wonderful   teaching  for  reverent 
intelligences  ;   a   mystery,  also,  about   which  we 
only  possess  scanty  though  priceless  hints. 
\i7ia/  His        The  sinlessness  of  Jesus  is  an  inestimable  truth 
means/or    b°tn  °f  doctrinal  and  practical  value. 
"•>'•  It  affects  the  value  of  His  sacrifice.      The  sin- 

bearer,  as  all  the  types  of  the  Mosaic  law 
prefigured,  must  be  himself  sinless — "  a  lamb 
without  blemish  and  without  spot."  Such  is, 
indeed,  "  the  Lamb  of  God,  who  taketh  away  the 
sins  of  the  world."  It  affects  the  worth  of  His 
righteousness.  The  eternal,  immutable,  inevit- 
able law  of  God  claims  an  entire  fulfilment. 
Who  is  to  fulfil  it  ?  One  has  said,  "  Lo,  I  come 
to  do  thy  will,  O  God."  Did  He  do  it,  or  did 
He  not  ?  He  twice  says  of  Himself  that  He 
did  do  it ;  and  at  the  supreme  moments  of  His 
life.  Once  in  His  High  Priest's  prayer,  after 
the  Paschal  supper — "  I  have  glorified  Thee  on 
the  earth  ;  I  have  finished  the  work  which  Thou 
gavest  me  to  do."  Once,  just  before  He  died — 
"  It  is  finished."  As  to  this,  let  us  put  in  His 
own  claim.  "  If  I  say  the  truth,  why  do  ye  not 
believe  me  ?  "  St.  Paul  corroborates,  and  presses 
home  the  claim.  "  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law 
for  righteousness  to  every  one  that  believeth." 
The  righteousness  of  the  head  is  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  body.  In  vital  conscious  union  with 
Him,  we  are  by  faith  as  righteous  as  He  is, 
because  righteous  with  His  righteousness.      But 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  127 

if   He  was    not   righteous  after   all,  where    are 
we  ? 

It  touches  His  example.  "  Who  gave  us  an 
example,"  writes  St.  Peter,  "  that  we  should 
follow  His  steps."  Of  no  saint  in  the  eternal 
glory  will  it  be  said  that  he  exactly  resembles 
Jesus.  No  created  soul  can  be  quite  or  alto- 
gether like  Him.  But  each,  according  to  his 
individuality,  will  resemble  Him  then,  and  must 
follow  Him  now.  Yet  if  He  were  not  sinless, 
how  should  we  wish  to  be,  how  could  we 
try  to  be  ? 

Once  more,  it  affects  His  friendship.  His 
sympathy  is  so  tender,  so  delicate,  so  exquisite, 
so  all-satisfying,  just  because  it  is  so  holy.  We 
are  not  afraid  of  His  knowing  all  about  us  ;  we 
do  not  shrink  from  His  doing  all  He  will  with 
us.  He  reads  our  secrets  ;  we  put  ourselves  in 
His  hands,  and  we  are  at  rest.  But  only 
because  He  is  sinless.  If  Jesus  is  not  sinless, 
the  sun  has  fallen  out  of  the  sky. 


128  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

III 

CHRIST  A    TEACHER 

How  knowetk  this  man  letters,  having  never  learned  f 
John  vii.  15. 

r~PHIS  was  a  perfectly  reasonable  question  to 
ask,  both  from  the  side  of  the  facts  which 
justified  it  and  of  the  motive  which  actuated 
it.  Though  authority  to  teach  is  not  the  only 
credential  to  be  demanded  of  a  teacher,  it  is  a 
credential  which  has  great  weight  with  it.  If  a 
teacher  who  claims  a  public  hearing  on  subjects 
the  loftiest  and  most  important  that  can  occupy 
the  human  mind,  not  only  teaches  in  admitted 
contravention  of  the  creeds  of  his  day,  but  asserts 
in  defence  of  his  doctrine  that  he  has  received  it 
direct  from  Heaven,  so  far  from  taking  umbrage 
at  a  certain  slowness  and  indocility  of  temper  on 
the  part  of  his  hearers,  such  a  teacher,  if  wise, 
will  expect  and  welcome  and  do  his  best  to 
recognise  it.  Tenacity  is  no  sordid  quality  of 
the  human  mind,  and  it  is  useful  for  the  pro- 
tecting of  truth  as  well  as  for  the  development  of 
knowledge. 
The  sub-  Rightly  to  appreciate  Christ  as  a  teacher,  we 

Simtedch-   must   consider,    however    briefly,  the   substance 
"'£■  of  His  teaching  and   the  methods  of  it.      They 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  129 

hang  together,  and  to  divide  them   is  to  destroy 
them. 

Christ  as  a  Teacher  came  to  reveal  God,  to 
spiritualise  worship,  to  proclaim  forgiveness,  to 
demand  faith.  What  He  omitted  is  perhaps  as 
remarkable  as  what  He  expounded  ;  and  though 
all  He  did  and  taught  was  to  impress  on  men  the 
importance  of  the  present  life  as  continuous  with, 
and  in  a  sense  resulting  from,  the  life  on  the 
other  side  of  death,  He  never,  except  in  the  case 
of  a  single  parable,  lifted  up  the  curtain  that 
separates  the  visible  and  invisible  worlds.  We 
must  wait  until  we  are  there  to  know.  God,  He 
taught,  was  the  Father  of  mankind,  and  all  the 
human  race  belonged  to  Him,  and  was  dear  to 
Him,  and  contemplated  in  His  purpose  of  mercy. 
He  Himself  had  come  to  reveal  Him,  for  man 
can  only  comprehend  human  ideas  and  human 
qualities,  and  human  lips  must  declare  them  to 
human  intelligences.  The  essence  of  acceptable 
worship  does  not  consist  in  the  country  in  which 
it  is  offered,  nor  in  the  shrine  where  priests  con- 
duct it,  nor  in  the  rites  and  ceremonies  which 
are  the  vehicle  of  it  from  the  hearts  of  men,  but 
in  the  sincerity  and  devoutness  and  truth  in  the 
hearts  of  the  worshippers.  Man  can  be  forgiven 
(mystery  though  such  forgiveness  must  always 
be  to  the  mere  reasoning  faculty)  for  the  sake  of 
God's  Son,  Who  as  man  lived  and  died,  and  rose 
again  to  put  sin  away.  Faith  is  indispensable, 
not  to  deserve  the  grace,  but  to  receive  it.      It  is 

1 


130  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  homage  of  the  will,  the  obedience  of  the 
understanding,  the  voice  of  the  conscience,  and 
the  movement  of  the  heart.  It  is  not  indeed 
believing  about  something  which  saves  us  ;  it  is 
believing  on  some  one,  and  that  some  one  is  the 
Son  of  God.  Goodness,  whether  toward  God  or 
man,  consists  in  love. 

Other  truths  than  these  the  Lord  privately 
unfolded  to  His  apostles  as  they  were  able  to 
bear  them,  and  we  possess  them  chiefly  in  the 
records  of  the  fourth  Gospel.  St.  Luke  also 
gives  us  a  hint,  but  only  a  hint,  of  other  com- 
mandments which  He  gave  to  the  apostles  in 
the  interval  of  the  forty  days  between  the  resur- 
rection and  the  ascension,  the  precise  nature  of 
which  is  not  disclosed.  What,  however,  He 
taught  publicly,  whether  in  Galilee  or  Jerusalem, 
stirred,  both  among  the  unlettered  and  the  lettered 
classes,  a  fermentation  of  opinion  which  almost 
amounted  to  revolution.  At  an  early  period  in 
His  history  an  irreparable  breach  was  made 
between  Himself  and  the  religious  leaders  of  the 
time,  while  up  to  the  last  the  common  people 
heard  Him  gladly,  and  the  very  servants  sent  to 
take  Him  excused  their  helplessness  by  saying, 
"  Never  man  spake  as  this  man." 
The  method  But  the  methods  of  Christ's  teaching  were  if 
possible  more  remarkable  than  the  substance  of 
it,  and  compelled  surprise  by  their  boldness  as 
well  as  by  their  wisdom,  by  their  originality,  and 
yet    by  their    profound    acquaintance    with    the 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  iji 

human  heart.  While  lie  taught  with  no  mis- 
giving, no  hesitation,  no  'sort  of  embarrassment 
or  diffidence,  the  people  especially  noted  of  Him 
that  it  was  "with  authority."  He  did  not  quote, 
as  the  religious  teachers  of  the  age  did,  Rabbinical 
books  to  make  good  His  assertions.  His  one 
aim  was  not  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
but  to  fulfil  them  ;  and  He  scrupulously  reve- 
renced the  Holy  Scriptures,  to  which  He  ap- 
pealed in  testimony  to  Himself.  He  did  not  so 
much  enunciate  a  s}'stem  as  declare  seed  truths 
which  He  dropped  into  men's  minds,  to  fructify 
as  occasion  offered.  What  he  seemed  most  to 
dread  was  any  coercing  of  the  reason  or  will  of 
His  hearers,  so  as  not  to  leave  them  perfectly 
free  in  the  weighing  and  handling  of  what  He 
said  to  them.  He  aimed  at  convincing  them, 
not  compelling  them.  He  never  gave  them  evi- 
dence enough  to  constrain  their  intellectual  assent, 
for  then  there  would  have  been  no  moral  value 
in  it.  A  man  is  neither  better  nor  worse  for 
admitting  that  two  sides  of  a  triangle  are  together 
greater  than  a  third.  If  he  has  a  mind  at  all, 
he  cannot  help  admitting  it. 

In  the  same  direction  of  thought  we  may  ob- 
serve that,  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  our  Lord 
was  never  eloquent,  never  declaimed,  never  (except 
when  He  was  denouncing  evil)  suffered  passion 
to  set  His  words  on  fire,  never  tried  to  throw 
people  off  their  guard,  or  to  upset  their  moral 
and  mental  equilibrium,  in  the  way  that  merely 


132  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

human  orators,  bent  on  winning  a  victory,  try  as 
a  matter  of  course  to  do,  and  when  they  succeed 
are  praised  for  doing.  He  always  desired  to 
leave  them  in  entire  possession  of  all  their  facul- 
ties, and  therefore  addressed  them  with  calmness 
and  quietness,  that  they  might  think  as  well  as 
feel — think,  indeed,  before  they  began  to  feel. 
He  appealed  to  a  faculty  within  them,  as  well  as 
to  an  authority  above  them.  He  respected  their 
gift  of  reason,  and  often  wondered  that  they  did 
not  understand.  His  miracles,  with  one  or  two 
trifling  exceptions,  were  signs  and  accompani- 
ments of  His  teaching,  intended  to  illustrate  and 
expand  it,  as  well  as  to  accentuate  and  seal  it  as 
sent  from  Heaven.  When  He  taught  in  para- 
bles, it  was  partly  because  they  would  be  likely 
to  be  more  attractive,  and  be  more  easily  remem- 
bered afterwards  ;  also  because  the  very  form 
and  obscurity  of  them  stimulated  curiosity,  and 
provoked  the  discovery  of  the  hidden  meaning 
from  those  who  really  cared  to  find  it.  His  rule 
was  never  to  make  men  right,  or  good,  or  wise 
against  their  will.  What  would  such  goodness 
or  wisdom  be  worth  when  it  was  gained  ?  But 
He  strove  to  win  the  will  first,  and  then  the  rest 
would  follow.  For,  to  repeat  what  cannot  be 
made  too  clear,  our  Lord  never  intended,  and 
the  Church  must  never  claim  it,  that  the  evidence, 
whether  for  His  doctrine  or  His  claims,  should 
be  irresistibly,  overwhelmingly  strong.  Christ 
drew — never   drove.      For   what    He    said    was 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  133 

this  :  "  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they 
shall  see  God."  "  If  any  man  will  do  His  will, 
he  shall  know  of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of 
God."  "Ye  shall  know  the  truth,  and  the  truth 
shall  make  you  free." 


IV 
CHRIST  THE  FOOD  OF  MAN 

How  can  this  man  give  //<  his  flesh  to  cat  .' — JOHN  vi.   52. 

A  PART  from  the  spirit  in  which  this  question 
was  proposed,  in  its  substance  it  was  both 
reasonable  and  just.  To  the  people  who  had 
followed  Him  over  the  sea,  Christ,  not  without 
deep  purpose,  whether  to  test  their  motives,  to 
stimulate  their  interest,  or  to  encourage  their 
devoutness,  had  made  claims  and  propounded 
doctrine  both  novel  and  striking.  First,  He  had 
declared  that  there  was  a  living  bread  which  had 
come  down  from  Heaven,  that  men  might  eat 
thereof  and  not  die.  When,  further,  as  He  had 
intended  them  to  do,  His  hearers  understood 
Him  to  mean  Himself  by  the  heavenly  bread, 
and  naturally  were  perplexed  by  it,  so  far  from 
withdrawing  what  He  had  said,  or  explaining  it 
away,  or  making  it  easier  for  them,  or  at  once 
turning    to    another    subject,    He    repeated     his 


134  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

statement  just  as  He  had  before  done  when 
revealing  to  Nicodemus  the  mystery  of  the  new 
birth,  in  language  even  fuller  of  paradox  and  still 
more  certain  to  offend.  He  changed  the  figure 
from  bread  to  meat,  and  from  describing  a 
privilege  He  proceeded  to  press  a  duty.  "  Except 
ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man  and  drink  His 
blood,  ye  have  no  life  in  you.  For  my  flesh  is 
meat  indeed,  and  my  blood  is  drink  indeed." 
Christ  the  food  of  the  soul,  as  an  elemental  and 
glorious  verity  ;  the  method  and  channel  of  this 
food,  as  a  practical  and  essential  consolation,  we 
will  consider  now.  When  we  think  of  Christ  as 
the  food  of  the  soul,  these  essential  truths  will 
be  found  to  be  included  in  it.  He  is  the  life  of 
the  soul  before  He  can  be  its  food.  His  entire 
incarnate  personality  is  the  food  and  sustenance 
He  offers  us.  Each  department  of  the  spirit 
needs  and  finds  its  sustenance  from  Him. 
ChHsi  the  Christ  Himself,  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  man, 
Life.  is  the  author  of  our  spiritual  life  conveyed  to  us 

and  fashioned  in  us  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  As 
the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  so  hath  He  given 
to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  Himself."  "  As  the 
Father  raiseth  up  the  dead  and  quickeneth  them, 
even  so  the  Son  quickeneth  whom  He  will." 
"  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  life,  and  He  that 
hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  life."  "  Ye 
will  not  come  unto  Me  that  ye  might  have  life." 
But  He  Who  is  in  the  first  instance  the  life  of 
man,    sustains   and   preserves  it  through    being 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  135 

Himself  its  food.  "  I  am  the  bread  of  life." 
"  The  bread  of  God  is  He  which  comet h  down 
from  Heaven,  and  giveth  life  nnto  the  world." 

In  language  as  explicit,  as  forcible,  and  even 
as  startling  as  illustration  can  make  it,  our  Lord 
declares  that  He  Himself — His  very  substance, 
His  flesh  and  blood — is  to  be  the  meat  and 
drink  of  man,  in  the  first  instance  conveying 
eternal  life  to  the  soul,  afterwards  nourishing  it 
and  maintaining  it.  Christ  Himself,  the  undi- 
vided, indivisible,  incarnate  Jesus,  only  begotten 
Son  of  God  from  all  eternity,  born  Son  of  man 
in  time,  and  God-man  for  ever,  is  the  soul's  life 
and  food.  He  is  also  the  food  of  all  man's 
being.  In  a  real  sense  our  bodily  life  is  bound 
up  with  His.  "  In  Him  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being."  But  to  all  our  invisible  and 
spiritual  faculties,  whether  those  of  the  under- 
standing, or  the  affections,  or  the  moral  sense, 
Christ  is  in  a  wonderful  and  blessed  way  (oh  ! 
that  we  understood  it  more)  refreshment  and 
vigour,  and  progress  and  food.  He  has  solemnly 
said  of  Himself  that  He  is  the  truth  as  well  as 
the  life. 

The  mind  has  its  hunger,  its  poverty,  its 
barrenness,  its  very  famine,  and  need  not  have 
them.  He  who  is  the  Word  of  God,  the  ex- 
pression and  revelation  of  His  mind  and  will, 
offers  Himself  to  us  to  lead  us  on  into  further 
tracts  of  truth,  to  enrich  our  mental  faculties 
with  deeper  visions  and  apprehensions  of  Him- 


ij6  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

self.  We  are  to  love  God  with  the  mind,  and 
the  reward  of  it  shall  be  that  Christ  will  feed  the 
noblest  part  of  us,  that  which  is  the  threshold 
and  ante-chamber  of  all  the  rest,  with  that 
truth  which  is  Himself,  with  that  doctrine  which 
is  not  His  but  the  Father's.  So,  too,  He  will 
nourish  and  stir  and  deepen  and  enrich  the 
affections  by  coming  to  dwell  in  our  hearts  by- 
faith,  and  teaching  us  increasingly  the  glory  and 
holiness  of  love,  and  expanding  in  us  the  capacity 
of  it,  and  by  concentrating  our  hearts  on  Himself, 
thereby  making  us  capable  of  more  purely  and 
spontaneously  and  naturally  loving  others.  Christ 
does  not  do  with  us  as  we  do  with  each  other, 
absorb  and  usurp  our  heart  that  it  may  be  alien- 
ated from  others,  but  that  it  may  have  a  nobler 
and  more  beautiful  hospitality  for  them. 

The  more  that  divine  love  is  shed  abroad  in 
our  hearts,  the  more  will  human  love  blossom 
and  bring  forth  fruit,  and  what  has  finely  been 
called  "  the  greatest  thing  in  the  world  "  be  in- 
creasingly our  ennobling  possession.  Christ  also 
feeds  and  enlarges  the  horizon  of  our  moral  sense 
by  helping  us  to  contemplate  the  perfection  of 
God  manifested  in  His  own  nature.  Our  moral 
sense  in  itself  is  apt  to  be  narrow,  small,  poor, 
circumscribed.  In  Christ  a  new  world  of  good- 
ness is  opened  out  to  us.  "  Old  things  are 
passed  away  ;  behold  all  things  are  become  new. " 
We  never  see  the  sinfulness  of  sin  until  we  see 
Jesus  dying  for  it.      We   never   care   to   rescue 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  137 

others  from  it  until  we  begin  to  discover  what 
exile  from  Mis  love  and  presence  must  mean  for 
a  lost  soul. 

But  what  arc  the  channels  and  methods  and 
conditions  by  which  our  Lord  feeds  us  ? 

Here,  at  the  outset,  on  the  very  threshold  of  The  me- 
all  we  have  to  say,  we  name  and  press  Faith   as  'jasn*&  by 
the  one   absolute   condition   for  knowing  Christ,  u'hilh  "•' 

feeds  us. 

and  feeding  on  Him,  and  finding  in  the  ordinances 
He  has  directed,  strength  and  peace.  "  He  that 
cometh  to  Me  shall  never  hunger  ;  he  that  believeth 
on  Me  shall  never  thirst."  "  This  is  the  word  of 
God,  that  ye  believe  on  Him  whom  He  hath  sent." 
"  This  is  the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me,  that 
every  one  that  seeth  the  Son  and  believeth  on  Him 
may  have  everlasting  life,  and  I  will  raise  him  up 
at  the  last  day."  Faith  is  so  indispensable  be- 
cause it  is  the  homage  of  the  will  to  God,  and  the 
will  is  the  man.  Then,  when  we  are  quite  clear 
of  this  as  the  one  indispensable,  primary,  essen- 
tial condition  of  man's  spiritual  capacity  for  the 
life  and  grace  and  food  that  are  in  Christ  for  him, 
and  as  much  of  them  as  he  pleases,  the  path  is 
open  for  inquiring  as  to  the  usual  modes  and 
channels  by  which  the  Lord  imparts  Himself  to 
the  soul  as  its  nourishment  and  food. 

Sometimes  we  may  believe  (and  it  is  whole- 
some to  be  reminded  of  it)  our  Lord  visits  and 
blesses  us,  quite  independently  of  any  channels 
and  ordinances  at  all.  Most  believing  men  can 
recall  moments  of  blessedness,  of  divine  nearness 


138  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

and  communion,  of  indisputable  accessions  and 
visitations  of  grace,  which  have  lingered  in  the 
soul  for  years,  with  an  indescribable  and  hallow- 
ing fragrance,  which  came  and  went,  we  knew 
not  why,  but  that  the  Lord  willed  it  so.  He  is 
not  bound  by  means,  and  He  has  times  and 
seasons  in  His  own  hand  ;  but  usually  He  honours 
them,  and  He  delights  to  meet  us  in  His  temple. 
In  His  Word  He  feeds  us.  "  Thy  word  was 
found  and  I  did  eat  it,  and  it  was  the  joy  and 
rejoicing  of  my  heart."  "  O  how  sweet  are  Thy 
words  unto  my  throat,  yea,  sweeter  than  honey 
unto  my  mouth."  In  our  worship  of  Him  He 
feeds  us,  and  gives  us  back  more  than  we  have 
given  Him.  "  My  soul  shall  be  satisfied  as  with 
marrow  and  fatness,  when  my  mouth  praiseth 
Thee  with  joyful  lips."  By  the  spoken  and 
written  words  of  His  servants  He  feeds  us. 
"  Then  they  that  feared  the  Lord  spake  often  one 
to  another. " 

Oh,  what  Christian  friendship  might  impart, 
through  the  close  and  devout  interchange  of  heart 
and  mind  about  the  personal  living  Jesus,  between 
soul  and  soul.  Reserve,  coldness,  timidity  rob 
us  of  priceless  blessing.  Through  the  pages  of 
a  book,  from  the  glowing  lips  of  an  ambassador 
of  Christ,  from  the  patient  face  of  a  sufferer,  or 
from  the  calm  smile  of  one  who  in  a  real  sense  is 
"  crucified  with  Christ,"  the  Bread  of  God  de- 
scends from  Heaven  into  the  soul.  There  is  one 
channel  more — the  feast  of  holy  love,  at  once  a 


CHRIST  ASCENDED  139 

memorial,  a  prophecy,  a  banquet,  where  we   love 
to  fulfil  the  dying  command,  "  Take,  eat,  this   is 
My   Body  ;"   where    we    may   recognise   at   least 
one,  though  not  the  exclusive,  application  of  the 
profound  sentence  at  Capernaum,  "  He  that  eateth 
My  flesh  and  drinketh  My  blood   dwelleth  in  Me 
and  I  in  him.  "      If  Jesus  does  not  feed  us  here, 
where  does  He  feed  us  ?     If  He  does  not  possess 
us  with  His  incarnate  presence,  cleanse  us  in  His 
precious  blood,  welcome  us  with  that  unspeakable 
tenderness  which  we  expect  to  feel  resting  on  us 
when  we  are  passing  into   His  immediate  pre- 
sence,  and   comfort  us  with  the  thought  of  His 
unchanging  love,   where  may  we  look   for  it  on 
earth  ?     This  presence  is  not  something  for  con- 
troversy to   wrangle    over,  or   for   schoolmen    to 
define :  it  is  to  be  expected  with  meekness,   and 
to  be  received  with  gratitude.      Strength  and  joy, 
if   the    Psalmist's    figures    are    correct,   are    the 
blessings    conveyed    by    the    outward    symbols, 
which  were  ordained    by    the    Saviour.      To   be 
made  strong  in  the   Lord,  and  then  to  go  on   our 
way  rejoicing  in   His  company,  is   the  end   and 
sift  of  the  Eucharistic  feast. 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE   FATHER 


Science  not  less  than  theology  is  the  inheritance  of  the 
Christian.  —  Bishop  Lightfoot. 


G 


HOLY  BAPTISM 

What  dotk  hinder  mc  to  be  baptized ?— ACTS  viii.  36. 

OD  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  author  and 
giver  of  life.  By  His  divine  operation 
the  Son  of  God  became  incarnate.  On  Jesus 
at  His  baptism  the  fulness  of  His  grace  was 
poured  out  without  measure.  At  the  creation  of 
the  material  world  He  "  moved  on  the  face  of 
the  waters."  By  Him  we  are  born  again,  "  not 
of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incorruptible."  He 
intercedes  within  us,  as  the  Lord  Jesus  intercedes 
above  us,  "  with  groanings  which  cannot  be 
uttered."  It  was  in  prospect  of  His  being  sent 
to  the  world  that  the  Lord  promised  to  His 
disciples  that  they  should  do  greater  works  than 
He  had  done.  Sin  against  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  unpardonable  sin,  because  there  can  be  no 
repentance  for  it,  and  therefore  no  forgiveness  of 
it.  We  may  grieve  Him  and  we  may  quench 
Him;  we  may  continually   "increase"  in   Him, 


i44  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

and  it  is   our  blessed   duty  to   be   filled  with  His 
presence.      His    operations    are     manifold,    His 
work    is  invisible,  His   gifts   are  sovereign,   His 
grace  indispensable.      By  Him   the   Son  of  God 
makes  the  heart  of  man   His  personal  and  royal 
habitation.      The  Church   is  His  temple  because 
He    is  pleased   to    abide   there.       Before   Christ 
went  back  to  Heaven  He  distinctly  and  solemnly 
ordained   two  sacraments    to   be     observed    and 
cherished  by  His  Church,  one  on  the  eve  of  His 
Passion,   the    other    in  view  of  His    ascension. 
The   communion   of  His  body  and    blood,  which 
was  to  be  a  memorial  of  His  death,  a  prophecy 
of  His  return,  and   a  channel  of  His  life,  is  one 
of  these   sacraments,   and   (as   we  may  have  an 
opportunity   of  seeing   hereafter)  it   is  the  Holy 
Ghost    that    makes   this    sacramental    ordinance 
potent   with   consolation  and   strength.      This   is 
the   sacrament   of  edification.      The  other  sacra- 
ment, ordained  for  all  time,  and  for  all  men,  He 
imposed    upon    His   followers    as   at    once    their 
privilege  and  duty,  and   in  language   as  clear,  as 
explicit,    and   as   authoritative   as   human  speech 
could  possibly   make  it.      When  He   commanded 
baptism  with  water  into  the  name  of  the  Father, 
the    Son,  and   the    Holy    Ghost,    He   enacted    a 
sacrament   of  initiation,  which   should   commence 
what  the   other  should  mature,  and   should   also 
be  the  successor  of  the  primitive  rite   of  circum- 
cision ordained  for  Abraham's  seed. 

The   blessedness   of  this   first  sacrament   has 


THE  1'h'OMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  145 

stirred,  in  all  ages  of  the  Church,  though  with 
manifold  degrees  of  importance,  acute  and  almost 
implacable  controversies.  Some  have  doubted 
if  sin  after  baptism  could  be  forgiven — anyhow, 
if  the  offender  could  be  readmitted  during  his 
lifetime  to  the  full  privileges  of  the  Church. 
Others  (certainly  not  those  who  have  thought 
lightly  of  its  privilege)  have  refused  it  to  infants 
and  confined  it  to  adults.  The  English  Church 
ordains  the  sponsorial  office  for  those  baptized 
in  infancy.  Some  have  made  the  manner  of 
baptism  as  important  as  its  matter,  and  have 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  validity  of  its  ad- 
ministration except  to  those  who  receive  it  b}r 
immersion.  On  the  precise  nature  of  the  bless- 
ing conferred  in  it  there  is  a  greater  controvers}' 
still,  one,  moreover,  which  cannot  be  pronounced 
to  be  unreasonable,  by  those  who  would  not 
postpone  the  spirit  to  the  letter,  and  who  claim 
as  the  essential  condition  of  a  capacity  for  grace 
the  conscious  obedience  of  an  intelligent  faith. 
While  a  few  (not  all  of  them  scholars)  decline  to 
recognise  in  our  Lord's  conversation  with  Nico- 
demus  any  reference  whatever  either  to  the 
form  or  grace  of  baptism,  those  who  remember 
the  continual  references  which  St.  Paul  makes  to 
it,  as  bearing  closely  and  practically  on  Christian 
doctrine,  accept  without  difficulty  the  more  than 
probable  conclusion  that  our  Lord  then  had  in 
His  mind  the  sacramental  ordinance,  which  after- 
wards was  to   be   one  of  His  last  commands  to 

K 


146  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  apostles  whom  He  had  chosen.  Nevertheless 
they  are  not  inconsiderably  at  variance  among 
themselves  as  to  the  exact  bearing  of  the  words 
"  born  again "  ;  and  in  what  sense  and  degree 
the  meaning,  whatever  it  may  be  proved  to  be, 
is  applicable  in  the  case  (which  it  must  be  ad- 
mitted imports  into  the  controversy  one  of  the 
greatest  difficulties  of  all)  of  those  baptized  in 
infancy.  On  one  point,  however,  all  are  abso- 
lutely of  one  mind  :  that  whatever  may  be  the 
grace  or  change  conferred  in  baptism,  that  grace 
or  change  is  the  invisible  and  divine  work  of 
God  the  Holy  Ghost. 

Baptism  may  truly  be  considered  as  a  sign  or 
seal  of  personal  covenant  with  God.  It  is  also, 
as  at  least  one  branch  of  the  Catholic  Church 
holds  it  to  be,  a  sure  witness  and  effectual  sign 
of  grace  actually  bestowed  by  God  therein  on 
those  who  worthily  receive  it,  according  to  their 
capacity  at  the  time.  In  the  case  of  those  who 
receive  it  in  riper  years,  with  instructed  intelli- 
gence, sincere  repentance,  and  personal  faith,  it 
means  the  present  and  conscious  forgiveness  of 
sins,  the  being  made  partakers  of  the  divine 
nature,  the  entrance  of  the  illuminated  and  re- 
generated soul  into  the  fellowship  of  the  saints 
and  the  fruition  of  God.  This  is  what  it  must 
have  been  to  Saul  when  Ananias  was  sent  to  bap- 
tize him;  also  what,  through  default  of  the  needful 
repentance  and  faith,  evidently  it  was  not  to 
Simon  Magus.      Here,  moreover,  the  work  of  the 


THE  I'ROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  147 

Holy  Spirit  on  the  mind  and  conscience  of  the 
person  desiring  baptism  anticipates  in  a  pre- 
venient  gift  of  grace  the  fuller  blessing  given  in 
the  sacrament  itself.  The  eunuch  in  his  chariot 
had  been  personally  dealt  with  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  or  he  had  not  desired  baptism  at  all.  It 
was  because  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  the  centurion 
and  his  friends  at  Cassarea  after  St.  Peter's  dis- 
course to  them,  that  the  apostle  exclaimed  in 
evident  joy,  "  Can  any  one  forbid  water  that 
these  should  be  baptized  which  have  received 
the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we  ?  " 

It  is  when  we  come  to  infant  baptism — and  infant 
we  cannot  be  too  frank  about  it — that  difficulties  *  ' 
thicken,  and  that  Christian  men,  who  wish  to 
understand  their  brethren  rather  than  quarrel 
with  them,  should  generously  and  equitably  en- 
deavour to  appreciate  the  reluctance  felt  about 
the  administration  of  such  a  lofty  privilege,  where 
there  is  neither  the  intellectual  nor  spiritual 
capacity  for  apprehending  its  grace.  Some  argu- 
ments are  adduced  in  favour  of  it  which  are  not 
worth  the  breath  that  utters  them ;  feeble,  in 
fact,  if  not  dishonest.  Yet  much  unnecessary 
opposition  is  provoked  by  a  grave  misinter- 
pretation of  the  language  used  by  the  English 
Church  in  her  baptismal  office,  and  by  sup- 
posing her  to  include  in  "  regeneration " 
grace  which  an  infant  is  obviously  incapable 
of  receiving,  as  well  as  to  ignore  a  subse- 
quent  activity    of  grace,    which    is    requisite    to 


i4S  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the   full  enjoyment  of  the    baptismal  privilege  in 
the  after  years. 

The  first  thing  to  assert  about  infant  baptism 
(though  it  may  be  alleged  to  be  an  unproved  asser- 
tion) is  that  it  is  "  most  agreeable  with  the 
institution  of  Christ."  No  one  can  deny  that  in 
the  earlier  covenant  male  infants  were  circum- 
cised at  eight  days  old,  and  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment, written  by  Hebrews,  and  in  the  first  in- 
stance addressed  to  them,  may,  by  the  absence 
of  any  prohibitory  regulation  on  the  subject, 
fairly  be  held  to  have  left  the  principle  unchanged. 
The  vital  point  is  :  What  does  that  "  regenera- 
tion "  mean,  for  which  the  Church,  in  one  great 
reformed  communion  at  least,  publicly  and  dis- 
tinctly thanks  God,  and  which  presumably  the  bap- 
tized infant,  whose  unconsciousness  is  at  least  no 
bar  to  the  divine  mercy,  may  be  thought  to  have 
then  received  ?  First  let  it  be  clearly  explained 
Regmera-  what  it  does  not  mean.  It  does  not  mean  a 
change  of  heart,  or  of  mind,  or  of  conscience,  or 
of  will,  for  the  simple  reason  that  change  of  this 
kind  cannot  presumably  be  effected  without  the 
personal  consciousness  of  the  person  in  whom 
the  change  takes  place,  and  that  with  an  infant 
they  are  impossible.  All  such  changes,  which 
practically  are  bound  up  with  what  we  commonly 
understand  by  conversion,  happen,  if  at  all,  after- 
wards, when  the  moral  sense  is  quickened,  when 
the  opening  mind  apprehends  the  faith  of  the 
Gospel,  when  the  will  deliberately  moves  to  duty, 
when  the  heart  begins  to  beat  with  love  to  God. 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  149 

Such  conversion  may  be  slow  or  rapid,  sudden 
or  unconscious,  taking  years  before   it   is  recog- 
nised  or  experienced,    often    dating    from    later 
childhood  ;    but    it    is    simply    indispensable    in 
every  soul  which  would  live  in  conscious  union 
with   God  ;  and    it    must   obey  the  laws  both  of 
the   moral  and   intellectual   life   before   it  can  be 
felt    and    known.      But    the    baptized    infant    is 
admitted  into  the  divine  society  called  the  Church, 
indwelt  and   sanctified  by  the  Holy  Ghost ;   it  is 
brought  thereby  into  direct  spiritual  contact  with 
Christ,  Who  is  the  head  of  the   body,  and  Who 
belongs  to  all,  even  its  least  and  most  insignifi- 
cant members  ;  it  is  adopted  into  the  household 
of  faith  ;   it   is  introduced   into  what   is  quite   a 
new    order    of    things — that    invisible    spiritual 
kingdom   which    has    laws    and    privileges    and 
citizenship    and    dignities   of  its   own.      Out   of 
darkness  into  light,  out  of  love  hoped  for  into 
love  assured,  out  of  a  fatherhood  of  creation  into 
a    fatherhood   of   adoption,    out   of    nature    into 
grace,    the   sacrament    of   baptism,  the  favour  of 
God,  the  welcome  of  Christ,  the   prayers   of  the 
Church  admit  it.      Surely  it   is   no  exaggeration 
of  language  to  describe  such  a  mighty  transition 
as  this,  which  baptism  confers — if  it  confers  any- 
thing— as  a  birth  into  a  condition  of  unspeakable 
privilege  out  of  a  condition  of  at  least  shadowed 
uncertainty.       Never    docs    a    Christian    parent 
more  tenderly  love  his  child  than  when  he  comes 
to  place  his  little  one  at  the  font  of  baptism  in 
the  kind  arms   of  the  Good   Shepherd.      Never 


150  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

does  he  hear  the  voice  of  Jesus  with  more 
thrilling,  almost  awful,  blessedness,  than  when 
he  hears  Him  say,  as  some  of  us  do  hear  Him 
say,  "  Take  this  child,  and  nurse  him  for  Me, 
and  I  will  give  thee  thy  wages." 


II 
THE  GIFT  OF  THE  HOLY  GHOST 

Have  ve  received  the  Holy  Ghost  since  ye  believed .' 
Acts  xix.  2. 

T3  0TH  the  question  and  the  answer  have  light 
thrown  on  them  by  a  careful  investigation 
of  their  force  and  meaning.  "  Since  ye  believed  " 
probably  means,  since  ye  confessed  your  faith, 
and  received  the  seal  of  it  in  baptism.  There 
was  a  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  then,  or  how  could 
the  soul  be  quickened  thereby  from  a  death  in 
sin  into  a  life  unto  righteousness  ?  "  We  have 
not  so  much  as  heard  whether  there  be  any  Holy 
Ghost "  may  be  otherwise  rendered  as  "  We 
have  not  so  much  as  heard  that  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  been  given  " — an  answer  which  no  doubt 
differs  on  the  surface  from  that  in  the  Authorised 
Version,  but  in  its  essence  and  results  amounts 
to  much  the  same.  First,  however,  let  some 
words  be  premised   on  the  supreme   blessedness 


THE  PROMISE  OE  THE  FATHER  151 

and  the  perpetual  necessity  of  this  gift,  whether 

for  the  universal  body  or  for  its  separate  members, 
for  duty  and  for  faith.  Take  two  men,  such  as 
we  see  every  day  of  our  lives,  equally  orthodox, 
equally  desirous  to  contend  for  the  faith  once 
delivered  to  the  saints,  equally  accepting  the  Word 
of  God  as  the  final  authority  for  the  mind  and 
will  of  God.  Yet  a  wide  gulf  severs  them,  and 
how  is  the  gulf  to  be  explained  ?  One  holds 
these  dear  and  inestimable  truths  in  a  congealed 
and  solid  condition,  with  no  delight  in  them,  no 
power  from  them ;  as  a  guide-post,  not  as  a 
companion  ;  for  a  chart  of  security,  not  as  an 
inspiration  of  life.  The  other  feeds  on  them, 
lives  by  them,  continually  assimilates  more  and 
more  of  them,  presses  them  on  others,  is  un- 
conscious either  of  shame  or  fear  in  vindicating 
them  before  the  world.  The  difference  is  in 
this.  One  has  received  the  Holy  Ghost  since 
he  believed,  and  goes  on  receiving  it  ;  the  other 
has  not  received  it,  hardly  knowing  or  caring  if 
it  is  to  be  received.  One  reads  and  learns  his 
Bible  with  the  heavenly  light  of  the  indwelling 
monitor  vitalising  and  illuminating  every  page. 
The  other  reads  it  just  as  he  would  read  any 
other  book,  and  with  this  difference,  that  he  does 
not  go  there  to  listen  to  a  friend,  to  receive  a 
message,  to  taste  a  felicity.  "  Joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost "  is  the  experience  of  the  first  :  "  We 
have  not  so  much  as  heard  if  there  be  any  Holy 
Ghost  "  is  the  confession  of  the  other. 


152  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

So  with  duty.  Two  men  have  each  the  same 
duty,  and  equally  recognise  its  importance, 
accept  its  obligation,  and  fulfil  its  commands. 
But  one  runs  to  it  with  willing  feet,  as  one 
who  finds  a  great  spoil ;  the  other  moves 
slowly  and  reluctantly,  as  a  schoolboy  to  his 
lessons.  One  has  his  heart  and  his  lips 
full  of  it ;  the  other  dismisses  it  from  his 
thoughts  at  the  first  opportunity,  and  does  not 
think  of  it  again  until  he  is  compelled.  One 
does  as  much  as  he  can,  the  other  as  little  as  he 
can.  The  one  feeds  his  inmost  soul  in  doing  it, 
the  other  stills  his  conscience  and  is  content. 
Here,  again,  where  is  the  difference  ?  Simply 
in  this — the  possession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
Spirit  of  God,  who  turns  Saul  into  Paul,  gives 
wings  to  the  feet,  fire  to  the  heart,  brightness  to 
the  mind,  freedom  to  the  will.  "  Where  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty." 

So,    apprehending    and    grasping    the     great 

truth,  that  it  is  the  Indwelling  Spirit  who  makes 

Methods      truth  living   and  duty   blessed,  we  will   proceed 

and  times  .  •  ,  i  i,  TT.. 

of  the  gift,    briefly  to  consider,  how  and  when  He  is  given. 

Let  me  premise,  what  all  will  accept  ;  then 
discuss,  where  some  will  differ ;  then  suggest 
what  most  will  approve. 

The  Holy  Spirit  is  pre-eminently  the  "  pro- 
mise of  the  Father,"  the  only  gift  of  God  about 
which  we  may  be  perfectly  sure  that  it  will  be 
given  to  those  who  ask  for  it — given,  of  course, 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  15? 

according  to  their  capacity  for  receiving  it.  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  poured  out  on  men  at  sundry 
times  and  in  divers  manners,  as  the  Holy 
Scripture  leads  us  to  expect,  and  as  the  history 
of  the  Church  justifies  us  in  assuming.  The 
promise  was  not  exhausted  at  Pentecost,  though 
then  the  initial  and  prominent  endowment  of  it 
was  given.  The  intercession  of  the  Great  High 
Priest,  which  procured  it  then,  procures  it  con- 
tinually now. 

Eager  and  devout  souls,  to  whom  the  creed 
of  creeds  is,  "  I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Lord  and  Giver  of  life,"  ask,  not  unreasonably, 
not  presumptuously,  "  How  may  this  special  gift 
be  best  procured  ?  Has  God  indicated  any 
special  methods  by  which  it  can  be  secured  for 
men  ?  " 

To  these  questions  answers  are  sometimes 
given  which  may  be  thought  to  savour  (without 
any  thought  or  consciousness  of  it)  of  fanaticism, 
if  not  of  presumption.  We  hear  now  of  "  the 
baptism  of  the  Spirit,"  alleged  to  be  communi- 
cated to  those  who,  already  "  walking  in  the 
Spirit  and  bringing  forth  the  fruits  of  His 
indwelling  life,"  desire  to  increase  and  abound 
more  and  more.  Meetings  are  held  of  godly 
souls  to  plead  for  such  baptism,  and  persons  are 
bidden,  almost  with  authority,  to  expect  it,  and 
(usually  by  young  and  rash  lips)  even  upbraided 
for  unbelief  for   not   feeling  to    receive   it,  and 


154  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

perhaps  dismissed  abruptly  at  last  as  under  the 
displeasure  of  God.  Not  only  does  such  unscrip- 
tural  teaching  wound  gentle  and  timid  hearts, 
but  it  comes  very  near  indeed  to  presumptuous 
interference  with  the  sovereign  prerogative  of 
divine  mercy,  and  dictates  to  Him,  Who  keeps 
times  and  seasons  in  His  own  hands,  when  He 
is  to  obey  the  commands  of  His  creatures  and  to 
put  the  sceptre  of  His  eternal  sovereignty  into 
their  keeping.  The  Church  of  England  loves  to 
recognise  in  the  laying  on  of  hands,  as  recorded 
in  the  apostolic  history  and  ministered  by  apos- 
tolic men,  what  other  branches  of  the  Catholic 
Church  accept  as  the  ordinance  of  confirmation, 
the  essence  and  value  of  which  is  in  the  special 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  conveyed  to  those  who 
accept  that  simple  and  very  ancient  ordinance  in 
sincerity  and  earnestness  and  faith. 

About  and  over  these  matters  there  are  and 
must  be  grave  differences  of  opinion,  and  harshly 
to  dogmatise  may  only  be  still  further  to  sever. 

But  no  one  will  doubt  that  He  who  has 
redeemed  the  human  soul,  and  yearns  over  it, 
and  desires  its  sanctification,  and  watches  over 
its  discipline,  does  from  time  to  time  visit  it 
with  special  grace  and  endow  it  with  exceptional 
power.  For  seasons  of  trial,  for  periods  of  con- 
flict, for  duties  exceptionally  hard,  for  privileges 
unusually  lofty,  He  commands  our  strength  and 
supplies  our  need  by  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
We  must  recognise  these  times  of  visitation,  and 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  155 

listen  to  these  voices  of  grace,  dutifully  and 
thankfully,  as  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness.  At  Holy  Communion  let  us  ask 
for  the  Spirit,  that  we  may  see  and  find  Jesus. 
Let  us  remember  that  every  duty  is  possible,  and 
if  we  are  told  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  we  may 
be  quite  sure  that  to  be  filled  is  within  our  power. 
To  care  and  ask  and  wait  and  expect  His  blessing 
is  the  one  indispensable  condition.  "  To  him 
that  hath  shall  more  be  given."  Is  there  a  better 
prayer  in  all  that  manual  of  public  devotion  which 
devout  Christians,  of  whatever  communion  they 
may  be,  so  deeply  revere,  than  this,  that  we  "  may 
daily  increase  in  God's  Holy  Spirit  more  and 
more,  until  we  come  to  His  everlasting  kingdom?" 


Ill 
THE  TEMPLE  OF  COD 

Know  ir  not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  God,  and  that  the 
Spirit  of  God  dwelletli  in  you  t — 1  COR.  iii.  16. 

~\  \  THEN  the  apostle  wrote  "  Know  ye  not," 
he  not  only  asserted  a  fact  which  he  held 
to  be  beyond  controversy  with  one  calling  himself 
a  Christian,  he  also  meant  to  imply  that  a  failure 
to  recognise  its  importance  was  a  very  grave 
ignorance.      "  Know  ye  not   that  we  shall  judge 


156  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

angels  ?  "  "  Know  yc  not  that  the  unrighteous 
shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God  ?  "  In  the 
passage  before  us,  he  emphasised  the  great  truth 
that  the  Church  as  the  Body  of  Christ  is  inhabited 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  that  His  influ- 
ence at  once  pervades,  directs,  and  sanctifies  it 
as  an  unbroken  and  majestic  whole.  But  in  a 
later  chapter  of  this  Epistle,  still  using  this  same 
emphatic  question  "  Know  ye  not,"  he  pressed 
the  illustration  much  further,  and  indicated  a 
doctrine,  which  if  it  were  universally  recognised 
and  acted  upon  in  daily  life,  would  involve  an 
immense  advance  in  purity,  dignity,  and  useful- 
ness. From  the  body  he  passed  to  the  members. 
From  the  corporate  life  he  travelled  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  separate  personality.  Each  human 
soul,  incorporated  by  baptism  into  the  divine 
society,  thereby  becomes  a  member  of  Christ,  and 
the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  "  Know  ye  not," 
he  asked,  "  that  your  bodies  are  the  members  of 
Christ  ?  "  from  which  awful  but  blessed  truth  he 
instantly  deduced  the  need  of  purity.  But  Christ 
dwells  in  the  soul,  through  the  Holy  Ghost, 
therefore  he  repeated  the  question,  as  if  to  make 
it  impossible  for  any  one  to  miss  the  scope  of 
his  application  :  "  What,  know  ye  not  that  your 
body "  (observe  the  singular  number)  "is  the 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  is  in  you, 
which  ye  have  of  God  ....  therefore  glorify 
God  in  your  body,  and  in  your  spirit,  which  are 
God's." 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  157 

It  is,  of  course,  open  to  any  one  to  say  that 
this  far-reaching  statement  is  painfully  incon- 
sistent with  things  as  we  find  them,  and  that  be- 
tween the  apostolic  ideal  of  the  primitive  Church 
and  the  normal  condition  of  professing  Christians 
a  great  gulf  is  fixed.  It  is  more  to  the  purpose 
to  admit  that  a  gift  may  be  offered  without  its 
value  being  recognised  ;  that  if  it  is  not  recog- 
nised or  cared  for,  the  law  of  the  divine  king- 
dom comes  in,  "  From  him  that  hath  not,  shall 
be  taken  away  even  that  which  he  hath."  St. 
Paul  himself  makes  the  woful  exception,  "  Know 
ye  not  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you,  except  ye  be 
reprobates?"  The  Holy  Spirit  may  enter  a  soul 
and  be  banished  from  it  by  wilful  sin.  "  Quench 
not  the  Spirit,"  unless  the  inspired  writer  was 
capable  of  dramatic  thunder,  is  the  solemn  warn- 
ing against  a  possible  sin. 

The  Church  as  a  body,  the  Christian  as  an  The 
individual,  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  form  cfrurc/i. 
the  subject  on  which  we  will  meditate  now. 
The  practical  lessons  to  be  drawn  from  it  are 
the  atmosphere  of  grace,  the  comfort  of  fellow- 
ship, the  value  of  influence,  the  presence  of 
Christ. 

The  figure  under  which  St.  Paul  presses  this 
magnificent  doctrine  demands  a  momentary  at- 
tention. Imagine  a  vast  mansion  with  various 
stories,  numerous  rooms,  a  single  owner,  and  an 
atmosphere  which  pervades  the  place.  The 
stories  are  separated  from  each  other,  and  their 


158  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

several  inhabitants  do  not  mingle.  The  rooms 
are,  some  of  them  open,  and  some  shut,  by  the 
will  of  the  several  inmates.  Those  which  are 
left  purposely  open  are  filled  with  the  atmo- 
sphere which  specially  pervades  the  place.  Those 
which  are  partially  or  entirely  closed  shut  out 
part  or  all  of  it.  The  rooms  when  shut  can  be 
opened,  and  when  opened  can  be  closed,  and  at 
will.  They  are  opened  or  shut  from  inside,  and 
some  when  once  closed  are  never  opened  again. 
The  parable,  let  us  hope,  explains  itself.  The 
atmosphere  of  grace — that  is,  the  light  and  com- 
fort and  help  of  the  Holy  Ghost — fills  the  corridors 
and  passages  and  assembly  rooms  of  the  Church, 
also  penetrates  each  separate  soul,  according  to 
the  measure  with  which  it  opens  itself  to  receive 
His  blessing.  We  may  have  as  much  of  the 
presence  of  the  living  God  as  we  will.  "  Open 
thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it."  But  "  no 
man  liveth  to  himself"  in  the  temple  of  God. 
We  cannot  tell  how  much  we  lose  for  ourselves, 
or  what  we  take  from  others,  by  a  selfish  or 
gloomy  isolation.  Unsociableness  is  one  of  the 
great  sins  of  the  Christian  Church.  We  have 
all  much  to  impart,  as  well  as  to  receive.  If 
we  rob  others  of  their  rights  through  an  exclu- 
sive or  chilly  selfishness,  we  rob  ourselves  of 
more.  Christians  are  meant  to  be  means  of 
grace  to  each  other,  and  too  often  are  not.  The 
value  and  power  of  influence  who  shall  measure? 
It  is  the  very  air  we  breathe,  and  without  knowing 


THE  PROMISE  OF  I  111-   FATHER  15., 

it.  It  is  the  irresistible,  inevitable,  continuous, 
pervasive  el'lluence  of  our  own  personal  character 
on  those  with  whom  we  mix  and  live.  No  one 
knows  how  much  he  influences  others,  they 
hardly  know  it  themselves  ;  but  the  influence 
either  heals  or  poisons,  warms  or  chills,  depresses 
or  exhilarates,  enfeebles  or  invigorates.  A  look, 
a  gesture,  a  sigh,  a  movement,  a  smile,  a  frown, 
all  tell,  all  influence.  We  are  always  influencing 
some  one,  and  some  one  is  always  influencing 
us  ;  and  if  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  has  open 
access  to  mind  and  conscience,  and  heart  and 
will,  always,  everywhere,  our  speech  is  for  God, 
and  our  activities  also  ;  in  our  body  and  in  our 
spirit  we  glorify  God,  who  bought  us  with  a  price 
that  we  might  live  to  His  praise. 

Last  and  best  of  all,  through  the  indwelling 
of  His  eternal  Spirit,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  dwells 
in  our  hearts  by  faith,  and  the  promise  of  the 
Comforter  means  the  presence  of  Jesus.  "  If 
any  man  love  Me  he  will  keep  My  words,  and 
My  Father  will  love  him,  and  We  will  come  to 
him,  and  make  Our  abode  with  him."  This  is  a 
great  mystery  and  an  indisputable  truth.  Just 
so  far  as  we  surrender  ourselves  absolutely  and 
constantly  and  cheerfully  to  the  control  and 
guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  just  so  far 
does  the  blessed  Saviour  consent  and  become 
able  to  be  the  Lord  of  our  will,  the  guide  of 
our  conscience,  the  light  of  our  understanding, 
and    the  king  of  our  heart.      But  all  is  by   the 


160  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Spirit,  and  all  is  in  the  Spirit.  "  If  any  man 
hath  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of  His." 
"  Because  ye  are  sons,  God  hath  sent  forth  the 
Spirit  of  His  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying,  Abba, 
Father." 

If  only  we  claim  our  sonship,  and  prove  it 
and  enjoy  it,  Christ  will  live  in  us,  and  the  life 
we  now  live  in  the  flesh  we  shall  live  by  the 
faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  "  loved  us  and  gave 
Himself  for  us." 


IV 
SPIRITUAL  DULNESS 

How  is  it  that  ye  do  not  understand  ? — John  viii.  43. 


T 


'WO  defects  in  the  religious  character  of  the 
disciples  continually  perplexed  the  Lord  : 
their  want  of  faith  and  their  want  of  intelligence. 
Again  and  again  they  come  before  us  in  the 
Gospel  record,  and  if  they  surprised  Him  much, 
they  pained  Him  more.  Whether  they  were 
baffled  by  the  case  of  the  lunatic  child,  or  alarmed 
by  the  midnight  storm,  or  were  reluctant  to 
accept  His  resurrection,  they  drew  from  Him  the 
expression  of  wonder,  which  had  a  note  of  rebuke 
The  nature  in  it.  Whether  it  was  their  slowness  to  catch 
His  deeper  meaning,  or  their  lack  of  spiritual 
perception   to    interpret    His   parables,   or,   even 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  F  ITHER  161 

after  so  long  a  sojourn  in  His  company,  their 
utter  failure  to  see  in  His  life  and  character  a 
revelation  of  the  Father,  their  opportunities  for  a 
fuller  progress  in  divine  knowledge  made  ignor- 
ance something  worse  than  regrettable  misfortune. 
"  Having  eyes  see  ye  not,  and  having  ears  hear 
ye  not,  and  do  ye  not  remember  ?"  While  we 
fully  take  into  account  the  fact  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  not  yet  given,  because  Jesus  was  not 
yet  glorified,  and  gladly  observe  how,  after 
Pentecost,  they  seemed  to  have  passed  out  of  the 
twilight  of  the  breaking  day  into  the  blaze  of 
light  when  the  sun  had  leapt  into  the  sky,  that 
Christ  was  surprised  indicates  that  He  was  dis- 
appointed ;  if  He  was  disappointed,  there  must 
have  been  sin  in  them. 

Let  us  put  this  question  to  ourselves,  the 
heirs  of  the  ages  on  whom  Pentecost  has  fallen, 
and  of  the  truths  which  the  Church's  saints  and 
doctors  have  digested,  formulated,  and  explained, 
in  the  light  of  the  mighty  fact  that  we  are  bidden 
remember  that  we  are  the  temple  of  God,  and 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in  us.  The  pro- 
mise to  the  twelve,  from  their  departing  Master, 
"  He  shall  guide  you  [more  exactly,  show  you 
the  way]  unto  all  truth,"  has  its  meaning  and 
value  for  us  in  our  eager,  humble  study  of  the 
divine  verities.  The  Psalmist's  prayer  shall  be 
answered  for  all  who  sincerely  offer  it,  "  Open 
Thou  mine  eyes  that  I  may  behold  wondrous 
things  out  of  Thy  law." 

L 


162  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Therea-  Why  do  we  not  understand '  ?    And  how  may  we 

come  to  understand  better  f  are  the  two  questions 
which  I  would  briefly  handle  now.  One  reason 
why  we  do  not  understand  whether  it  be  the 
principles  of  the  divine  government,  or  the  direc- 
tion of  the  divine  purpose,  or  the  meaning  of  the 
divine  oracles  (and  all  these  things  from  time  to 
time  come  under  our  attention,  and  compel  our 
conclusions),  is  that  we  do  not  always  care  enough 
to  understand,  and  so  will  not  be  at  the  pains  to 
discover.  The  wise  man  speaks  of  seeking  for 
wisdom  as  for  silver,  and  of  digging  for  it  as  for 
hid  treasures.  There  is  not  much  seeking  or 
digging  in  the  common  run  of  minds,  which  are 
satisfied  with  the  first  result  that  comes  under 
their  notice,  and  which  must  be  superficial,  if  it 
is  nothing  worse.  To  take  trouble  is  the  one 
condition  of  success  in  every  department  of 
human  activity,  and  the  law  holds  good  in  the 
kingdom  of  God  as  much  as  in  the  kingdom  of 
this  world. 

Another  reason  why  we  do  not  under- 
stand is  that  we  are  far  too  apt,  though  often 
quite  unaware  of  it,  to  discover  and  adopt 
only  what  is  in  sufficient  harmony  with  our  own 
preconceived  opinions,  and  that  to  modify,  or 
change,  or  even  let  go  anything  (whatever 
the  authority  for  so  doing  may  be)  in 
the  system  of  the  truth  we  have  already 
adopted,  would  appear  to  be  a  treason  to  the 
God    of     truth    and    a    perilous     departure    for 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  163 

ourselves.  No  doubt  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
a  dangerous  and  even  contemptible  facility  in 
changing  our  opinions,  as  if  they  were  but  old 
clothes,  worn  out  and  only  to  be  thrown  away. 
We  know  who  has  warned  us  against  a  class  of 
persons  who  are  "  ever  learning  and  never  able 
to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth."  Stability 
is  an  essential  feature  of  Christian  manhood, 
and  fickleness  is  the  foible  of  the  wTeak.  But 
an  active,  generous,  fearless,  and  candid  intelli- 
gence in  assimilating  truth  must  shed  error. 
There  is  no  growth  without  pain,  there  is  no 
learning  without  some  unlearning.  If  we  are  to 
really  maintain  as  a  primary  maxim  of  morals 
in  religious  thought  that  change  is  decay,  and 
that  to  modify  former  conceptions  (when  there  is 
reason  for  doing  so)  is  to  unloose  the  moorings 
of  faith,  and  to  send  the  spirit  drifting  over  a 
shoreless  sea,  we  must  be  consistent  in  our 
principles,  and  leave  others  in  their  twilight 
because  we  wish  to  be  protected  in  our  own. 
A  Mussulman,  a  Romanist,  a  Buddhist,  a  Deist 
may  just  as  fairly  claim  as  ourselves  to  be  left 
unmolested  in  their  inherited  creeds  and  their 
cherished  convictions.  We  will  all  stand  still 
where  we  are  and  fall  asleep  as  we  stand,  but  our 
slumber  may  become  death. 

Another  reason  is  that  we  do  not  use  the  right 
helps  to  enable  us  to  understand  ;  or,  having  the 
right  helps,  we  do  not  use  them  in  the  right  way. 
Reflection,  conversation,  mingling  with  those  who 


1 64  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

distinctly  and  even  seriously  differ  from  us,  and 
the  habitual  study  of  books  which  handle  the 
matters  we  would  learn  with  depth  and  thorough- 
ness, will  soon  bring  us  out  of  the  deep  ruts  in 
which  many  so  completely  bury  themselves,  that, 
instead  of  gazing  above  on  the  inspiring  and 
ennobling  firmament  gemmed  with  flashing 
worlds,  all  they  see  is  a  barren  belt  of  sky,  with 
two  or  three  twinkling  stars,  if  ever  indeed  they 
care  and  try  to  see  so  much.  We  must  be  content 
sometimes  to  learn  by  collision  and  by  conflict, 
by  being  shocked  and  even  distressed,  from  per- 
sons whom  we  secretly  distrust,  and  through 
channels  which  stir  every  prejudice  of  our  soul. 
We  shall  not,  we  need  not,  we  must  not  retain 
all  we  take,  or  assimilate  all  that  we  receive  ;  but 
a  genuine  love  of  truth  is  capable  of  a  mental 
hospitality  which  has  a  great  reward  ;  and  those 
who  consent  to  learn  only  from  those  who  flatter 
their  self-love  by  always  agreeing  with  them, 
cease  to  learn  because  their  capacity  for  learning 
is  deadened  and  become  unable  to  think  be- 
cause controversy  never  keenly  stimulates  their 
intellectual  powers,  nor  puts  them  at  their  best. 

One  more  reason  is  that  we  so  seldom  go  to  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  the  final  tribunal  of  revealed 
truth,  or  place  ourselves  in  the  keeping  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  be  our  counsellor  and  guide.  "Ye 
do  err,  not  knowing  the  Scriptures,"  was  our  Lord's 
warning  in  His  day,  and  it  must  still  be  a  warn- 
ing to  us  in  our  day.      The  living  Word  of  God 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  165 

appealed  to  the  written  word,  for  "  the  Scripture 
cannot  be  broken."  "  Bonus  textuarius,  bonus 
theologus."  There  is  no  excuse  in  our  day  for 
an  uncritical  and  slovenly  and  puerile  interpre- 
tation of  the  one  book  which  is  able  to  make  us 
wise  unto  salvation.  Every  intelligent  Christian 
who  has  leisure,  culture,  and  means,  should  have 
a  book  of  Scripture  always  in  hand  for  patient 
and  exact  and  critical  as  well  as  devotional  study. 
To  know  what  the  Bible  means  is  the  first  step 
to  knowing  what  it  teaches.  If  we  read  the 
Bible  more  and  other  books  less,  there  might  be 
more  steadiness  and  dignity  in  our  thinking,  more 
comfort  and  diligence  in  our  lives.  The  Holy 
Spirit,  while  He  observes  the  laws  of  the  human 
mind,  and  will  not  give  the  saintliest  soul  fuller 
or  riper  understanding,  except  in  the  way  and 
on  the  methods  prescribed  for  it  for  its  highest 
advantage,  will  graciously  consent  to  take  the 
things  of  Christ  to  the  devout  heart  that  longs  to 
see  them,  and  will  fill  with  the  presence  of  Christ, 
and  with  the  sense  of  His  illuminating  and  inspir- 
ing love,  every  heart  which  truly  says  to  Him, 
"  Lord,  I  would  see  Jesus." 


1 66  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

V 
THE  BIBLE 

What  saitk  the  Scripture? — Romans  iv.  3. 

C^T.  PAUL  in  this  question  appeals  to  the  Old 
Testament  Scripture,  and  quotes  it  under 
a  mystical  illustration,  rather  than  a  formulated 
dogma.  But  his  quotation  implies  the  final 
authority  of  Scripture,  and  the  authority  of 
Scripture  means  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
From  one  point  of  view,  almost  in  the  front 
rank  of  questions  pressing  for  settlement  on  a 
sincere  thinker,  is  what  is  usually  known  as  the 
inspiration  of  the  Bible.  Yet  there  is  hardly 
any  question  of  supreme  importance  so  greatly 
needing  the  preliminary  settlement  of  under- 
lying principles  ;  none  which  is  so  hopelessly 
obscured  and  so  mischievously  complicated  by 
assumptions  without  foundation,  and  conclu- 
sions without  validity.  On  some  common  points 
of  inestimable  importance  all  Christendom  con- 
curs. The  Bible  is  the  word  of  God.  As  such, 
for  the  Church  collectively,  for  the  Christian  in- 
dividually, it  is  the  final  court  of  appeal.  It 
is  the  woid  of  God,  because  God  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  superintended  and  guided  its  composition 
in   fulfilment    of    the    Father's   will,    and    in    a 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  167 

purpose    to     narrate    the     history    of    the   faith 
and  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  His  Son.      Here, 
however,     the     entire     concurrence     terminates. 
Some  doubt  as  to  the  scope  of  its   purpose,  as 
to   the   quality  of  its   contents,  as   to    the   exact- 
ness  of    its   accuracy,   as    to   the    history   of  its 
canon.      Was  it  meant  to  declare  principles  or  to 
define  rules  ?     Was  it   to  reveal  the  character  of 
God,   or   in    addition   to   expound    and    describe 
His    creative    wisdom  ?       Shall    we    find   in   it 
organisations,  or   (judging   from    God's   methods 
elsewhere)    must  we    expect    to  be  left   free  to 
make  them  for  ourselves  ?      Is  worship  only   in- 
culcated, or,  in  addition,  are  the  universal  formu- 
laries of  it  to   be   discovered  ?      Have  its  truths 
been  shaped   into   dogmas,  and   harmonised   and 
compacted    into   creeds  ?      Once   more,    are  the 
words  of  the  holy  book  inspired,   or  simply  the 
men  who  wrote  them  inspired  ?  Also,  if  there  are 
variations  (which   we  are  unable   to   harmonise) 
between  some  of  these  good   men's  statements 
and  others,   are  we  bound    in     self-defence    to 
construct  a  theory  which  shall  at  least  attempt 
superficially   to  explain   them,  or  shall  we  treat 
the  apparent  discrepancies  as  of  no  real  import- 
ance ;   and  in  simple  reliance  on  the  wisdom  and 
righteousness  of  the  incarnate  Jesus,  the  living 
Word  of  the  Father,  possess  our  souls  in  peace  ? 
A  very  few  words  may  suffice,  not  indeed  to 
set  these  matters  at  rest — they  arc  too  profound 
and  important  for  that — but  to  help  simple  souls 


1 68  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

to  hold  fast  by  their  faith,  notwithstanding  the 
plausible  difficulties  urged  against  it,  and  to 
cherish  their  Bible  as  the  rudder  of  their  life, 
and  so  bringing  with  it  the  silent  company  of  their 
Saviour,  even  when  all  the  claims  made  for  it  can- 
not be  admitted,  and  when  some  of  the  familiar 
buttresses  of  its  authenticity  cannot  now  be  ac- 
counted solid  by  the  bulk  of  thinking  men. 
in  what  it        The  Bible  is  God's  mouthpiece  to  men.     Men 

consists.  , 

are  meant  to  read  it  for  themselves,  and  while 
thankfully  using  such  helps  and  explanations  as 
oral  counsel  and  written  commentary  may  afford, 
they  must  surrender  their  liberty  of  private  judg- 
ment to  no  man.  They  will  make  some  mistakes, 
they  will  occasionally  miss  the  right  meaning, 
and  while  they  live  they  will  never  extract  all 
the  sweetness  from  the  divine  honeycomb.  But 
they  will  have  no  artificial  fetters  on  their  con- 
sciences, and  with  free  access  to  the  blessed 
Holy  Spirit  they  will  learn  by  degrees  all  God 
means  them  to  know,  and  with  a  zest  and  assur- 
ance no  human  teacher  could  give  them.  The 
words  are  not  inspired.  The  Bible  never  claims 
this  for  itself.  How,  indeed,  would  it  help  us 
if  it  were  so  ?  The  original  languages  in  which 
it  was  first  written  are  not  the  languages  in 
which  we  study  them.  There  are  varieties  of 
text,  differences  of  translation,  controversies  of 
meaning.  The  simple  fact  that  the  writers 
were  inspired  to  write  them,  with  the  aids  and 
on   the  methods   and  for  the  purpose   which  God 


THE  PROMISE  OF  THE  FATHER  [69 

bestowed,  selected,  and  ordained  in  His  unvary- 
ing and  redeeming  wisdom,  is  amply  sufficient 
for  those  who  prefer  to  conclude  a  system  from 
what  they  actually  see,  rather  than  to  construct 
a  theory  from  what  they  expect  to  see,  and 
who  do  not  presume  to  be  wiser  than  God  in 
His  providential  and  eternal  method  of  illumi- 
nating and  instructing  the  soul. 

The  Bible  needs  to  be  more  studied  in  its 
own  light,  and  with  a  comparative  survey  of 
its  multifarious  contents.  Not  all  of  it  is 
equally  edifying,  but  all  of  it  is  where  we 
find  it  in  the  far-seeing  purpose  of  God.  As 
the  Holy  Spirit  assisted  the  writers  to  indite 
it,  He  enables  the  disciple  to  understand  it, 
not  by  sudden  illumination  or  by  the  neglect- 
ing of  the  laws  of  the  mind,  but  by  patient 
investigation,  aided  by  dutiful  obedience. 
"  The  meek  will  He  guide  in  judgment  ;  the 
meek  will  He  teach  His  way."  As  "  holy  men 
of  old  spake  and  wrote  as  they  were  moved 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  holy  men  now  search  the 
deep  things  of  God,  and  fathom  something  of 
His  purpose,  and  catch  a  glimpse  of  His  ways, 
not  through  a  penetrating  cleverness,  but  by  the 
insight  of  faith  and  love.  Most  of  all  when 
temptation  assaults  us,  conflicts  enfeeble  us, 
sorrows  unman  us,  and  disappointment  corrodes 
the  very  tissues  of  life,  let  us  flee  to  the  God 
of  the  Bible  to  hide  us — let  us  say  even  from 
the  depths,  "  Whom  have  I  in  Heaven  but  Thee  ; 


170  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

there  is  none  upon  earth  that  I  desire  in  com- 
parison of  Thee."  Then  we  shall  practically  use 
and  honour  the  Bible  much  more  surely,  much 
more  soberly,  than  by  adopting  any  theory  of 
inspiration,  however  lofty,  which  will  not  stand  its 
ground  an  hour  when  face  to  face  with  absolute 
facts;  we  shall  win  that  "joy  in  the  Holy 
Ghost "  which  is  the  sure  reward  of  all  who 
trust  and  worship  Him  as  "  the  Lord  and  giver 
of  life." 


COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT" 


Christian  holiness  is  the  reproduction    in    the    individual 
of  the  life  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God. — Robert  Ottley. 


SHORTCOMINGS 

What  lack  I  yctf—  MATTHEW  xix.  20. 

THIS  was  the  second  question  that  the  rich 
young  man  put  to  the  Lord.  Like  the 
first,  it  was  the  utterance  of  a  sincere  and  trans- 
parent spirit ;  unlike  the  first,  it  betrays  disap- 
pointment and  surprise.  Wishing  to  inherit 
eternal  life,  he  asked  to  be  shown  the  way  of 
earning  it.  Christ's  method  here  was  perfectly 
His  own.  Instead  of  telling  him,  as  some  of 
our  modern  teachers  would  have  told  him,  that 
"  doing  was  deadly,"  and  that  all  claimed  of  him 
was  to  believe,  He  distinctly  and  emphatically 
enjoined  the  observing  of  the  moral  law,  and 
urged  that  the  keeping  of  the  commandments,  so 
far  from  having  become  a  matter  that  might  now 
be  dispensed  with,  was  the  one  essential  con- 
dition of  entering  into  life.  The  answer  instantly 
came,  "  All  these  things  have  I  kept  from  my 
youth  up.      What  lack  I  yet  ?  "      That  he  really 


174  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

thought  so  is  plain  from  the  way  in  which  Jesus 
treated  him  and  felt  towards  him.  St.  Mark, 
always  quick  to  note  details,  and  the  only  one  of 
the  Evangelists  who  observes  that  he  "  came 
running,  and  kneeled  to  Him,"  also  remarks, 
"Jesus  beholding  him  loved  him."  It  is  impos- 
sible for  Christ  to  love  a  false  soul,  and  it  is 
equally  impossible  for  Him  to  be  feeble  in  His 
treatment  of  any  soul,  or  to  withhold  the  truth 
because  it  might  inflict  pain.  We  know  what 
followed  and  the  result  that  came  of  it.  "  If 
thou  wilt  be  perfect,  go  and  sell  that  thou  hast, 
and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have  treasure 
in  Heaven  ;  and  come  and  follow  me."  Instantl}' 
the  young  man  started  back.  He  had  not  been 
prepared  for  a  sacrifice  which  seemed  both  above 
and  beyond  him.  He  took  one  quick  peep 
through  the  opened  door  into  the  kingdom  of 
Heaven,  found  that  there  was  no  rose-strewn 
way  to  the  King's  feet,  and,  with  the  profound 
sadness  of  one  who  had  seen  Christ,  weighed 
Him,  and  did  not  think  Him  worth  as  much  to 
him  as  the  world  was,  quietly  went  away. 

We  need  not  pass  judgment  on  him.  In  our 
secret  hearts,  if  we  please,  we  may  cherish  tender 
hopes  of  him.  But  it  was  a  frightful  risk  he 
ran  in  saying  No  to  Christ,  and  it  is  a  significant 
circumstance  that  we  never  hear  of  him  again. 
Now  this  question,  "What  lack  I  yet?"  is 
the  normal,  irresistible,  and  constantly  recurring 
question  of  every  Christian  soul  that  seeks  salva- 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT"  175 

tion  from  the  power  of  sin,  as  well  as  from  the 
punishment  of  it,  and  that  desires  to  put  on  Christ 
as  well  as  to  be  made  white  in  1 1  is  blood.  Among 
many  others,  it  includes  these  four  things — 
essential,  and  among  the  first  :  an  absolute  spirit 
of  sacrifice  ;  a  systematic  and  continuous  devo- 
tion ;  growth  in  the  intellectual  as  well  as  in  the 
moral  apprehension  of  God  ;  a  vital  and  joyful 
anticipation  of  the  glory  in  front.  The  first  Sacrifice. 
condition  is,  to  be  quite,  and  always,  and  alto- 
gether for  God.  This  young  man  had  not  yet 
attained  to  this  perfection,  and  felt  for  the 
moment  unwilling  to  attain  to  it.  He  kept 
something  back,  and  in  keeping  it  back  kept 
himself  back.  As  already  observed,  the  Lord 
did  not  wait  to  parley  with  his  ignorance,  or  to 
reason  with  him  about  his  self-righteousness,  or 
to  make  it  plain  to  him  that  a  better  obedience 
than  his  own  was  needful  to  justify  him  before 
God.  It  would  have  been  at  that  moment  beside 
the  purpose,  and  a  mere  waste  of  time.  To  see 
Jesus  is  the  only,  and  also  the  shortest,  way  of 
discovering  our  own  insufficiency  and  sinfulness. 
Had  he  followed  Jesus,  as  he  was  asked  to  do, 
he  would  soon  have  learned  two  things,  and  in 
the  learning  of  them  he  would  have  found  great 
reward  :  that  Jesus  can  recompense  us  more 
than  heart  can  think  for  all  we  surrender  for 
His  sake  ;  and  that  to  be  found  in  Him,  not 
having  our  own  righteousness,  but  His,  through 
personal    and  spiritual  union    with   Him,  is    the 


176  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

way   of    holiness,     and    of    usefulness,    and    of 
peace. 

We,  too,  are  apt  to  deceive  ourselves  as  he 
did.  We,  too,  in  our  own  way,  though  we  do 
not  express  it  in  the  same  language,  have  often 
a  quiet  impression  that  we  are  keeping  all  the 
commandments  sufficiently,  and  inheriting  the 
eternal  life.  One  day  a  tremendous  duty  opens 
before  us,  and  we  are  aghast  at  its  hardness. 
What  shall  we  do?  What  shall  we  answer? 
Is  Christ  deserving  of  everything  from  us,  or 
only  of  part  ?  It  is  a  tremendous  test,  which 
Devotion,  all  cannot  stand.  A  systematic  and  continuous 
devotion  is  essential  to  close  union  with  Christ, 
and  to  the  enjoyment  of  what  some  of  us  feel 
to  be  the  blessedest,  yet  also  the  rarest,  of  all 
Christian  privileges — a  constant  sense  of  His 
presence.  No  doubt  Christian  souls  greatly 
differ  in  this  matter.  For  some  much  less  time 
actually  spent  in  prayer  is  needful  than  for 
others,  though  it  should  be  premised  that  where 
the  time  is  short,  all  the  more  need  is  there  to 
protect  it  from  distraction,  and  to  make  it,  what 
all  real  prayer  ever  must  be,  hard  work.  We 
have  no  right  to  impose  on  others  rules  of 
devotion  which  Christ  has  not  ordained.  He  is 
the  soul's  Master,  we  must  each  of  us  give 
account  to  Him.  Yet  there  are  some  features 
which  our  Lord  has  emphasised,  and  St.  Paul 
pressed — incessancy,  simplicity,  filialness,  reve- 
rence, submission,   full  assurance  of  faith,  adorn- 


••COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT.    '  177 

lion  of  God  for  His  own  sake,  praise,  and  inU  /  - 
cession.  The  measure  of  our  sanctity,  the  fruitful- 
ness  of  our  labours,  the  influence  of  our  example, 
the  serenity  of  our  temper,  the  manhood  of 
our  entire  nature,  and  the  joy  of  our  daily  service 
will  all  depend  on  prayer.  Christ  could  not  dis- 
pense with  prayer,  and  the  more  filled  His  life 
was  with  duty  the  fuller  was  it  of  prayer.  So  must 
it  be  with  us.  Then,  and  then  only,  we  shall 
come  to  understand  that  deep  sentence,  "  Hence- 
forth I  call  you  not  servants,  but  friends."  To 
be  living  under  His  eye,  seeking  His  glory, 
continually  going  to  Him  for  the  cleansing  of 
His  blood,  looking  for  His  appearing,  and  anti- 
cipating 1 1  is  welcome— here  is  the  secret  of 
knowing  the  love  which  passeth  knowledge,  and 
so  of  being  surely,  constantly,  if  unconsciously, 
transformed  into  His  likeness. 

Growth  in  the  apprehension  of  the  truth  of  Knawledgi 
God,  as  well  as  in  the  fruition  of  His  love,  is 
another  secret  of  progressive  holiness.  All 
departments  of  the  regenerate  spirit  should  move 
and  grow  together.  The  understanding  must 
not  be  starved,  for  it  is  the  organ  by  which  we 
apprehend  God.  It  is  wonderful  how  greatly  St. 
Paul,  whom  some  apparently  suppose  to  be  ex- 
clusively occupied  with  faith,  insists  on  the  value 
of  knowledge,  as  edifying  as  well  as  illuminative, 
edifying  because  illuminative.  So  our  Lord. 
"  This  is  life  eternal,  that  they  might  know 
Thee    the    only    true    God,    and    Jesus    Christ, 

M 


178  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

whom  Thou  hast  sent."  To  know  is  to  live  ; 
but  we  do  not  know  all  at  once,  and  life,  being 
capable  of  illimitable  increase,  is  always  incom- 
plete, often  feeble,  languid,  and  slow.  We  need 
nimbleness  as  well  as  solidity  of  mind  ;  elasticity 
as  well  as  tenacity ;  humility,  which  dreads 
arrogance  in  the  science  of  heavenly  things  ; 
firmness,  lest  we  let  go  that  which  we  have,  and 
so  lose  our  crown.  We  must  not  be  content 
with  rudiments  and  elements,  but  must  press  on 
to  those  things  which  are  before.  Then  a  double 
reward  will  ensue.  We  shall  grow  steadily  into 
a  better  understanding  of  each  other,  and  we 
shall  not  treat  our  brother  when  he  differs  from 
us  as  if  he  sought  a  quarrel,  or  meant  an  insult. 
It  will  also  help  us  to  stability.  A  receptive, 
candid,  modest,  assimilating  temper  of  mind  is 
a  great  protection  against  rapid  changes,  and 
quick  impulses  to  novelty.  A  mind  shut  up  in 
a  cast-iron  envelope,  when  one  of  its  barriers 
is  suddenly  removed,  and  it  looks  out  into  a 
new  world,  the  existence  of  which  it  had 
not  previously  suspected,  is  first  bewildered, 
then  delighted,  then  tempted  to  make  a 
somersault,  and  at  last  finds  itself  in  the 
end  landed  it  hardly  knows  where.  To  be 
kept  from  being  tossed  about  with  every 
wind  of  doctrine,  ripe  and  complete  knowledge 
is  the  first  condition.  But  it  cannot  all  come 
at  once  just  by  wishing  for  it  when  it  is 
wanted,  and   the   temper  that    desires,    acquires, 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  Gil- 1  "  179 

digests,    and    assimilates    knowledge    cannot    be 
ours  in  a  day. 

The  hope  of  glory  as  the  secret  consolation  of 
the  soul  is  an  unspeakable  stimulant  to  duty,  and 
steadies  while  it  exhilarates.  If  that  young  man 
could  have  looked  forward,  and  just  asked  him- 
self what  his  great  possessions  would  be  worth 
to  him  when  life  was  waning  and  eternity  opening 
to  his  gaze,  he  would  have  thought  more  ot 
Christ  and  less  of  the  world.  We  need  not 
speculate  ;  we  ought  to  contemplate.  We  do 
not  wish  to  die  ;  but  just  because  we  see  how 
little  death  can  spoil  or  even  interrupt 
God's  plans  for  us,  it  is  hardly  even  a  factor  in 
our  calculations.  "  To  be  with  Christ  is  far 
better,"  though,  in  the  apostle's  mind,  "  to  live 
is  Christ." 


II 
DETERIORATION 

If  the  salt  have  lost  its  savour,  wherewith  shall  it  be 
seasoned? —  Matthew  v.  13. 

^~*HRIST  told  His  disciples  that  they  were  to 
be  the  light  of  the  world  and  the  salt  of 
the  earth  ;  and  He  pressed  the  responsibility  by 
emphasising  the  fact.  "  Ye  arc  "  this  already, 
He  said ;  recognise  it,  and  live  up  to  it.      Chris- 


180  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

tians  arc  the  light  of  the  world  in  the  sense  of 
revealing  God  to  men  in  His  purpose,  character, 
and  government  by  their  own  personal  disposi- 
tions and  conduct.  Man  is  in  a  real  sense  the 
mirror  of  God.  A  Christian  is  but  little  aware 
how  he  is  constantly  either  prejudicing  men 
against  God,  or  attracting  them  to  Him  by  his 
daily  life.  So  again  they  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth.  Salt  has  two  properties  :  one  of  protect- 
ing from  decay,  the  other  of  flavouring  food. 
Christians  have  by  their  character  and  diligence 
to  keep  alive  in  men's  hearts  the  divine  ideal  of 
duty  and  goodness.  They  have  also  by  their 
very  presence  and  conversation,  without  a  thought 
of  arrogance,  without  a  feeling  of  superiority, 
with  tact  and  gentleness,  wisdom  and  charity,  to 
make  men  round  them  feel  that  there  are  two 
worlds  to  be  thought  of  and  lived  for;  and  that' 
here  is  not  our  rest. 

The  question  which  our  Lord  put  so  directly 
and  solemnly  suggests  a  very  common  tendency, 
indicates  also  a  subtle,  and  almost  fatal,  peril. 
The  tendency  is  that  of  deterioration  ;  the  peril 
is  that  of  its  irremediableness.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  moral  and  spiritual  decay,  in  standard, 
motive,  devotion,  sacrifice,  and  goodness.  The 
Epistles  to  the  Seven  Churches  give  proof  enough 
of  this  were  it  wanted.  Each  true  and  tender 
heart  will  readily,  tremblingly,  ask  itself,  "  Lord, 
is  it  I?" 

What  are  the  signs  of  it  ?  Where  is  the  danger 
of  it? 


•'COMIXG   BEHIND  IX  XO  GIFT"  181 

One  sign  is  to  be  found  in  a  lowered  and 
attenuated  ideal.  Christ  has  little  by  little  be- 
come almost  a  personal  stranger.  We  do  not 
seek  Mis  company,  watch  His  eye,  listen  for  Mis 
voice.  The  thought  of  Him  does  not  send  a 
thrill  of  joy  into  the  heart.  We  have  not  re- 
nounced Him,  nor  consciously  taken  another  Lord 
in  His  place.  But  we  have  lagged  so  far  behind 
in  the  journey  that  He  is  quite  out  of  our  sight 
and  reach.  We  can  no  more  honestly  say,  as 
once  we  could  say  with  a  kind  of  rapture,  "  He 
is  chief  among  ten  thousand,  and  altogether 
lovely."  It  is  the  inevitable  result  from  this 
changed  relationship  to  Christ  that  the  cross  has 
dropped  from  our  back  (we  did  not  feel  it  drop, 
nor  do  we  miss  it  now  that  it  is  gone) ;  there  is 
nothing  in  our  lives,  or  activities,  or  general  pro- 
fession, that  is  irksome  or  troublesome,  compel- 
ling sacrifice,  and  earning  joy.  The  world  is 
apparently  neither  better  nor  worse  for  us. 
Really  it  is  worse.  The  candlestick  is  still  in  its 
place,  still  feebly  burning,  but  in  a  moment  it 
may  go  out,  and  then  where  shall  we  be  ? 

Another  indication  of  this  common  and  woful 
deterioration  is  a  growing  indifference  to  all 
great  enterprise  for  Christ.  Mission  work  must 
we  think  be  very  near  the  heart  of  the  Saviour 
who  died  to  redeem  the  world.  Few  things  are 
more  exhilarating,  more  invigorating,  more  up- 
lifting, more  solemnising  than  a  mighty  gathering 
of  Christian   people,  met,  let  us  say,  for  a  great 


182  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

missionary  anniversary,  to  hear  the  glad  tidings 
of  the  progress  of  the  Redeemer's  kingdom,  and 
to  return  to  their  homes,  stirred,  joyful,  thankful. 
The  heart  that  is  cold  to  all  this,  sceptical  about 
it,  indifferent  to  it,  and  that  yet  looks  back  on 
days  when  every  word  spoken,  every  blow 
struck,  every  triumph  won  for  Jesus,  was  a  joy 
which  few  things  else  equalled,  has  good  reason 
for  asking  itself  what  has  happened  to  it  to  make 
the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  so  small 
and  dull,  and  unattractive  and  commonplace  a 
thing.  The  change  is  assuredly  not  in  the  pur- 
pose of  Jesus,  nor  in  the  value  of  the  soul,  nor 
in  the  duty  of  the  Church,  which  is  His  Body. 

Another  sign  of  the  salt  losing  its  saltness  is 
in  a  deepening  indifference  to  truth  for  its  own 
sake,  though  not  unfrequently  accompanied  with  an 
augmenting  fierceness  of  controversy  and  a  spirit 
of  partisanship  in  contending  with  those  who  are 
on  the  other  side.  There  is  no  test  of  the  sin- 
cerity of  our  love  of  truth  when  we  are  fulfilling 
the  duty  (so  unspeakably  irksome  to  some  of  us) 
of  trying  to  show  our  brother,  who  is  presump- 
tuous enough  to  differ  from  us,  that  we  are  right 
and  that  he  is  wrong,  surer  than  this — Is  the 
one  wish  of  our  heart  to  win  him  into  the  deeper 
and  richer  knowledge  of  Jesus  ;  or  do  we  simply 
wish  to  vanquish  him  as  a  spoil  for  our  self-love  ? 
We  ought  to  be  more  and  more  in  love  with 
truth,  and  to  be  increasingly  capable  of  learning 
it  and  of  passing  it  on  to  others,  and  of  separating 


OMING   BEHIND  IN  NO  GIF!  "  183 

the  wheat  from  the  chaff  and  the  spirit  from  the 
form.  Whin  we  become  careless  about  truth  we 
arc  becoming  careless  towards  God.  Yet  most 
of  the  heat  and  passion  of  religious  controversy 
has  nothing  of  the  fire  of  God  in  it.  Few  forms 
of  self-deceit  are  more  treacherous  or  more 
hardening  than  that  which  thinks  to  contend  for 
the  truth  without  love.  Once  more,  nothing- 
tends  more  to  rob  salt  of  its  saltness,  and  the 
Christian  of  his  usefulness,  than  inconsistency  in 
the  use  and  enjoyment  of  what  we  understand 
by  earthly  and  worldly  things.  "All  things  are 
lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  are  not  expedient. 
All  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  I  will  not  be 
brought  under  the  power  of  any. " 

We  are  not  so  strict  as  our  fathers  were,  and 
we  may  be  wise  in  our  fuller  liberty.  We  love 
art  and  music.  Fiction  is  no  longer  tabooed  as 
an  altogether  evil  thing.  We  have  ceased  to 
try  to  discipline  our  children  into  a  wise  Christian 
liberty  by  a  perpetual  No.  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  they  will  requite  us.  But  it  still  remains 
as  true  as  it  ever  was,  that  there  is  a  world  we 
are  not  to  love,  if  the  Father's  love  is  to  be  in 
us  ;  that  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  lust  of  the 
eye,  and  the  pride  of  the  life  are  not  of  the 
Father  but  of  the  world.  It  is  still  true  that  the 
fashion  of  this  world  passeth  away,  and  that  he 
who  will  be  the  friend  of  the  world  must  be  con- 
tent to  be  the  enemy  of  God.  Nothing  so 
weakens,  paral}rses,  finally  destroys  a  Christian's 


1 84  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

influence  as  worldliness.  To  aim  at  both  worlds 
is  usually  to  end  in  enjoying  neither.  If  we 
want  to  have  our  aims  lowered,  our  ideals  de- 
spised, our  aspirations  crushed,  our  secret  long- 
ing for  God  and  communion  with  Him  little  by 
little  dissipated,  let  us  use  our  freedom  and  go 
where  others  do,  and  do  what  others  do,  letting 
Sunday  lose  its  hallowed  repose,  and  making 
our  devotions  short,  that  we  may  fill  up  the 
languid  spaces  with  visiting  our  friends.  But 
we  do  it  at  our  peril.  No  man  can  serve  two 
masters.  There  can  be  for  us  no  new  gospel  to 
stir  us  into  repentance  ;  it  is  an  old  worn-out 
story.  Not  even  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  can 
rekindle  the  fire  that  has  gone  out  in  a  soul  that 
has  deliberately  quenched  His  presence. 


Ill 
IMPERFECT  FAITH 

Who  touched  me? — LUKE  viii.  45. 

'""THE  action  of  this  poor  woman  has  been  pitied 
as  feeble,  and  even  blamed  as  superstitious. 
Surely  such  a  censure  is  as  silly  as  it  is  cruel. 
Could  she  have  done  anything  else  ?  Nay,  could 
she  have  done  anything  better  ?  The  crowd 
hindered  her  from  closer  access  to  the  Lord.     So 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  Gil- I  185 

simple  and  true  was  her  faith  in  Him,  that  all  she 
deemed  needful  was  just  to  touch  Him.  Some- 
where, whether  hand  or  raiment,  mattered  not. 
She  was  sure  of  His  pity,  and  of  His  power. 
Where  she  failed  was  in  her  promptness  to  con- 
fess Him.  But  when  she  felt  that  tender,  search- 
ing, encouraging  look  gazing  full  on  her  she 
threw  her  fears  to  the  winds,  and  like  a  lame 
man  who  has  no  more  need  of  his  crutches,  made 
her  difficult  way  to  the  Saviour's  feet.  He,  at 
least,  did  not  upbraid  her  for  unbelief;  all  He 
desired,  for  her  own  good  and  that  of  the  multi- 
tude, was  that  she  should  give  glory  to  God.  If 
that  was  superstitious,  the  more  we  have  of  such 
superstitiousness  the  better.  If  hers  was  but  a 
weak  faith,  where  is  the  happy  Christian  to  show 
us  a  stronger  ? 

There  is  a  mystery,  let  us  confess,  in  Christ's 
question,  "Who  touched  me?"  and  His  ex- 
planation of  the  question  does  not  make  it  less 
mysterious.  "  Some  one  hath  touched  me,  for  I 
perceive  that  virtue  hath  gone  out  of  me."  A 
similar  incident  is  recorded  in  an  earlier  part  of 
the  Gospel,  where  we  read,  "  the  whole  multi- 
tude sought  to  touch  Him,  for  there  went  virtue 
out  of  Him,  and  healed  them  all." 

Whatever  other  truths  may  be  contained  in 
this  question,  one  is  plain,  and  very  pertinent  to 
our  subject — the  Way  of  Holiness.  The  truth 
is,  that  in  the  person  of  our  incarnate  Lord 
dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  in  a  body, 


1 86  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

that  fulness  being  for  the  life  and  growth  and 
usefulness  of  His  Church.  The  inference  from 
this  truth — it  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the 
importance  of  it — is  that  it  is  the  personal 
touch  of  the  regenerate  soul  in  its  spiritual 
union  with  Christ,  in  the  exercise  of  its  daily 
activities,  its  private  devotion,  its  continuous 
self-surrender,  that  differentiates  the  standing 
and  usefulness  of  one  soul  from  another  soul, 
and  at  once  creates  and  explains  the  difference 
between  one  and  another  in  joy  and  sanctity  and 
power.  We  need  to  be  in  constant,  though  not 
always  conscious,  touch  with  the  incarnate 
Lord,  if  we  are  to  receive  fresh  supplies  of  His 
grace  and  helpful  glimpses  of  His  presence.  Too 
many  of  His  true  and  faithful  followers  are 
content  to  stand  outside  in  the  ante-chamber, 
knowing  that  He  is  at  hand  if  He  is  wanted, 
instead  of  pressing  into  His  presence  to  be  under 
the  very  gaze  of  the  King.  We  need  to  touch 
Him,  as  that  blessed  woman  did,  in  our  humblest 
and  most  commonplace  duties,  that  He  may  be 
glorified  in  the  motive  which  discharges  them  as 
unto  Him,  and  that  we  be  strengthened  and 
consoled  in  the  thought  that  they  secretly  help 
to  edify  us  into  His  image.  We  need  to  touch 
Him — how  strange  that  it  should  be  needful  to 
say  it — in  our  prayers.  Do  we  always  feel 
that  He  hears  us,  and  that  we  deserve  (so  far  as 
it  is  possible)  that  He  should  hear  us  ?  Do  we 
always   see  the    sceptre    held  out  and  touch    the 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIF!  1S7 

tip  of  it,  and  feel  a  smile  on  the  King's  face,  and 
rise  gladdened  by  the  assurance  of  I  lis  love  ?  I  ><> 
we  always  touch  Him  when  we  read  His  word 
— that  meeting-place  of  God  and  man — where 
He  speaks  and  we  listen,  where  He  feeds  and  we 
cat  ?  No,  we  know  that  we  do  not.  The  king- 
dom of  Heaven  is  not  taken  by  languor,  but  by 
strenuous  effort,  and  only  the  violent — i.e.,  those 
who  greatly  care — are  conquerors  by  the  power 
of  God.  Do  we  always  touch  Him  in  the  Com- 
munion of  His  love  ?  There  we  come  to  obey 
His  dying  word,  to  commemorate  His  atoning 
sacrifice,  to  feed  on  Him  the  living  bread,  to  be 
washed  and  made  white  in  the  precious  blood, 
one  drop  of  which  could  wash  all  the  sin  of  the 
world  into  perfect  whiteness.  Yet  often  we  are 
so  dull,  so  sleepy,  so  formal,  so  mechanical,  that 
instead  of  touching  Jesus,  whereby  virtue  goes 
out  of  Him  into  us,  we  simply  touch  Him  as  the 
ignorant,  curious  multitude  touched  and  jostled 
Him  ;  and  we  wonder  that  we  arc  not  stronger 
for  our  heavenly  food,  and  the  fault  is  in  our- 
selves. Loving,  constant,  personal  fellowship 
with  Jesus  in  all  we  do,  wherever  we  may  be,  in 
the  world  or  out  of  the  world,  in  the  busy  street 
or  on  a  sick-bed,  is  the  one  secret  of  a  growing 
and  consistent  holiness, — not  the  Bible,  without 
Him  ;  not  the  Sacraments,  without  Him  ;  not  a 
dozen  lives  feverish  with  restless  activities,  with- 
out Him  ;  not  all  our  goods  given  to  feed  the 
poor ;    not   even  the  yielding  of  our  bodies  to  be 


1 88  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

burned.  "Abide  in  Me  and  I  in  you;"  "As 
the  branch  cannot  bear  fruit  except  it  abide  in 
the  vine,  no  more  can  ye  except  ye  abide  in  Me  ;" 
"  He  that  abideth  in  Me  and  I  in  him,  the  same 
bringeth  forth  much  fruit  ;  for  without  Me  ye  can 
do  nothing." 

Blessed,  blessed  Jesus  !  why  should  it  be  so 
hard  for  us  ever  to  cleave  to  Thee,  closely  to 
walk  with  Thee,  to  cast  all  our  cares  on  Thee, 
to  make  Thee  our  guide,  and  master,  and  friend  ? 
Conquer  us  by  Thy  love,  and  draw  us  by  Thy 
constraining  tenderness,  and  never  let  us  rest 
till  we  are  quite  Thine. 


IV 
FORGIVENESS  OF  INJURIES 

Lord,  how  oft  shall  my  brother  sin  against  me,  and  I 
forgive  him  ?■ — MATTHEW  xviii.   2T. 

\1  7E  are  not  told  what  suggested  this  question. 
Possibly  it  was  some  personal  trouble  in 
the  apostle's  own  experience,  which,  while  re- 
vealing to  him  the  exceeding  difficulty  of  sincere 
forgiveness  under  certain  circumstances,  also 
made  him  really  anxious  to  know  his  duty  both 
towards  man  and  God.  Christ  answered  him, 
first    of  all    by   what   sounds    like    a   counsel  of 


'•COVING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT"  \S<, 

perfection,  in  showing  the  bewildered  disciple 
how  little  he  had  as  yet  gauged  the  wideness 
and  loftiness  of  his  duty  ;  then  enforced  it  by 
a  parable,  in  which  he  was  to  contemplate  the 
boundless  love  of  God  as  the  ensample  and 
model  for  His  children  ;  and  the  absolute  in- 
compatibleness  of  resentment  harboured  in  the 
soul  either  with  our  acceptance  with  God  as 
His  reconciled  children,  or  our  growth  into  His 
image.  "  So  likewise  shall  my  heavenly  Father 
do  also  unto  you,  if  ye  from  your  hearts  forgive- 
not  every  one  his  brother  their  trespasses." 

The  point  on  which  1  desire  now  to  dwell  is  The  peril 
to  show  that  a  harboured  resentment — or  what  %sett/»u»t 
the  writer  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  omi- 
nously calls  a  "  root  of  bitterness  " — is  fatal  both 
to  the  life  and  growth  of  the  soul ;  and  that  no 
amount  of  religious  activity,  no  punctuality  of 
attendance  on  divine  ordinances,  no  righteous 
jealousy  for  sound  doctrine,  no  amount  of  phi- 
lanthropic effort  or  self-sacrificing  devotion,  can 
in  any  sense  compensate  for  the  lack  of  charity. 
The  supreme  effort  of  charity — to  strong  and 
deeply  sensitive  natures  it  is  sometimes  an  effort 
like  tearing  out  a  heart-string  with  one's  own 
hands — and  the  indispensable  test  of  personal 
forgiveness  by  God,  is  readiness  to  forgive  others, 
again  and  again  and  again  where  the  sin  is 
confessed,  and  the  genuineness  of  the  repentance 
manifested.  Where  this  is  not  recognised  or 
yielded,  the  heart  must  be  shrouded  in  a  frightful 


qfforgi-c 


190  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

delusion  as  to  its  own  forgiveness  ;  and  the  moral 
tissues  of  the  soul  will  be  slowly  petrifying  into 
death.  In  a  subject  like  this,  so  vital  to  salva- 
tion and  to  holiness,  we  must  be  sure  of  our 
principles,  distinct  in  our  definitions,  and  real  in 
our  claims.  In  other  words,  we  must  be  quite 
clear  as  to  the  nature  of  Christ's  command  ;  we 
must  be  reasonably  sure  that  the  conditions  He 
imposed  are  actually  fulfilled  ;  we  must  not  be 
extravagant  or  exacting  in  claiming  from  human 
nature  what  Christ  Himself  did  not  claim,  and 
which  it  might  be  even  injurious  as  well  as  in- 
equitable to  enforce. 

First  of  all  there  must  be  confession  of  the 
sin  about  which  forgiveness  is  asked,  or  for- 
giveness of  it  would  only  be  thrown  back  in  our 
face  as  a  sort  of  gratuitous  insult,  and  harden 
the  offender  as  well  as  wound  ourselves.  Con- 
fession is  an  indispensable  condition  of  forgive- 
ness, and  a  condition  not  always  fulfilled. 

Then  repentance  must  go  with  confession,  to 
test  its  sincerity  and  accentuate  its  value,  or  we 
shall  be  merely  helping  a  soul  to  deceive  and 
corrupt  itself  by  self-interested  mendacity,  and 
give  it  no  sort  of  aid  in  restoring  it  to  self- 
respect  and  virtue.  Of  course  there  are  different 
tests  of  repentance.  One  is,  not  to  repeat  the 
offence.  Another  is,  to  accept  a  salutary  disci- 
pline. Another,  as  indicated  in  the  parable,  to 
attempt  at  least  reparation  and  atonement. 

Again,  the  more  frequently  that  the  offence  is 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIF1  191 

repeated,  and  advantage  taken  of  a  facile  and 
generous  charity,  the  greater  will  be  the  need 
of  sufficiently  assuring  ourselves  that  the  repent- 
ance is  not  the  expression  of  deliberate  hypocrisy, 
and  so  of  protecting  ourselves,  in  the  interests 
of  society  as  well  as  our  own,  from  being  inso- 
lent!}' imposed  upon.  In  our  Lord's  own  parable 
we  possess  a  flagrant  instance  of  the  hardening 
effect  on  a  base  soul  of  a  magnificent  and  entire 
forgiveness.  The  unrighteous  servant  at  any 
rate  had  no  second  chance  of  liberty  and  pardon. 
"His  lord  was  wroth  and  delivered  him  to 
the  tormentors  till  he  should  pay  all  that  was 
due  unto  him."  It  is  a  question  of  course  what 
is  precisely  meant  by  the  word  "  trespasses.'' 
The  Greek  word  in  the  Lord's  prayer  means 
"  debts."  Our  Lord  did  not  mean  that  we  are 
in  all  cases  to  excuse  money  obligations,  merely 
because  it  may  be  inconvenient  to  discharge 
them.  In  some  cases  it  may  be  right.  Yet  it 
cannot  be  enforced  as  an  universal  law,  or  the 
very  principles  of  commercial  integrity  would 
be  continually  violated,  and  society  could  not 
hold  together  for  a  week.  But  it  must  mean 
offences  in  backbiting,  in  temper,  in  neglect  of 
obvious  duties,  in  flagrant  deceit,  in  wrongs 
which  pierce  as  with  the  wound ings  of  a  sword, 
and  lacerate  the  very  tissues  of  the  soul.  Now 
here  it  is  that  we  must  face  things  with  absolute 
truthfulness,  and  consider  our  Lord's  command 
with  dutiful,  sincere,  and  intelligent  reverence. 


192  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Our /.onfs        i.   We  are  always  in  our  heart  to  forgive,  I 
meaning,  ,       .        ,  ,  . .    r  .  ... 

take  it,  though    until   forgiveness  is  craved,  it   is 

neither  wise  nor  necessary  to  express  it. 

2.  When  we  think  of  injuries,  debts,  offences, 
it  is  always  well  to  recollect  that  self-love  is  very 
apt  to  exaggerate  such  things,  and  that  a  day  or 
two's  calm  reflection  will  often  convince  us  that 
we  have  made  too  much  ado  about  nothing  ;  and 
that  the  sensible  as  well  as  the  right  thing  to  do 
is  to  treat  the  matter  as  if  it  had  never  happened. 

3.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  hot  and 
unpremeditated  words,  spoken  when  our  friend 
was  off  his  guard,  or  repeated  to  us  by  some  one 
who  ought  to  have  known  better.  "  Also  take 
no  heed  to  all  words  that  are  spoken,  lest  thou 
hear  thy  servant  curse  thee." 

4.  Bishop  Butler  has  taught  us  that  resent- 
ment is  a  moral  faculty  bestowed  on  the  human 
soul  for  its  protection  and  self-assertion.  Not 
all  anger  is  sinful.  Sometimes  not  to  be  angry 
is  the  basest  and  most  cowardly  of  sins.  St. 
Paul  does  not  tell  us  not  to  be  angry  ;  only  not 
to  harbour  and  cherish  our  resentment.  "  Be  ye 
angry,  and  sin  not.  Let  not  the  sun  go  down 
upon  your  wrath."  Our  blessed  Lord,  we  read, 
was  sometimes  angry  ;  and  it  was  a  holy  anger. 
The  Revelation  tells  us  of  "  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb." 

5.  There  are  offences  and  offences.  Some 
offences,  let  us  confess,  while  they  ought  always 
to    be    forgiven,    make    the    restoration   of    love, 


'•COMING  LSI- HIND  IN  NO  GIFT"  19? 

and  the  rekindling  of  friendship  impossible. 
"  There  is  a  sin  unto  death/'  says  St.  John  ; 
and  this  is  true  of  man,  as  well  as  of  God,  in 
the  sense  that  some  sins,  such  as  repeated  in- 
gratitude, constant  deceit,  and  flagrant  dishonesty 
make  love,  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  not 
only  impossible  but  unjustifiable.  Did  Christ 
love  the  scribes  and  Pharisees,  who  not  only 
would  not  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  themselves, 
but  also  prevented  others  from  entering  in  ? 
Did  He  love  the  "fox"  Herod,  or  the  self- 
blinded  Caiaphas  ?  We  need  not  think  or  try 
to  love  better  than  the  Saviour  loved.  But  this 
moral  impossibility  of  loving  those  who  have 
proved  themselves  utterly  unworthy  of  it  must 
not,  need  not,  hinder  our  doing  them  a  kindness 
whenever  it  is  in  our  power  to  do  so,  or  fulfilling 
the  reasonable  claims  of  vicinage,  or  affinity,  or 
relationship.  In  our  hearts  we  can  wish  them 
well ;  before  God  we  sometimes  remember  them, 
though  we  do  not  tell  them  so.  He  Who  knoweth 
our  hearts  and  understandeth  our  nature,  is  full 
of  pity,  and  also  of  justice.  We  only  wish  to 
love  as  the  Son  of  His  love  loved.  We  recog- 
nise with  all  our  heart  that  the  secret  of  progress, 
and  the  way  of  holiness,  is  to  walk  in  love,  as 
Christ  also  loved  us,  and  gave  Himself  for  us. 


194  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

V 
THE  SECRET  OF  GRACE 

Received  ye  the  Spirit  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the 
hearing  of  faith  f — GALATIANS  iii.  2. 

HID  the  apostle  refer  in  this  question  to  a 
special  gift  of  the  Spirit,  such  as  he 
assumed  the  disciples  at  Ephesus  to  have  re- 
ceived, when  he  asked  them  if  they  had  received 
the  Holy  Ghost  since  they  believed,  and  which 
after  their  baptism  was  bestowed  on  them  through 
the  laying  on  of  hands  ?  Or  is  it  merely  a  gene- 
ral allusion  to  that  essential  and  indispensable 
operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  which  man  is 
born  again  in  the  divine  act  of  regeneration, 
wherein  he  is  grafted  into  Christ,  that  afterwards, 
day  by  day,  he  may  put  on  Christ  ?  The  ques- 
tion is  immaterial,  except  in  this  respect,  that  the 
receiving  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  supreme  con- 
dition of  spiritual  life.  The  point,  surely,  which 
the  apostle  presses,  and  which  is  vital  to  our 
subject  of  personal  holiness,  is  the  secret  of 
obtaining  this  indispensable  and  supernatural 
grace. 

There  are  two  ways  possible,  and  he  instantly 
rejects  one  of  them.  This  divine  grace  may 
conceivably  be    earned  by  the  faithful  discharge 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIFT"  195 

of  duty  ("  the  works  of  the  law  "),  as  a  labourer 
earns  wages  by  toil.  St.  Paul  almost  scornfully 
rejects  this  explanation  by  an  appeal  to  their  own 
experience.  Was  the  Holy  Spirit  paid  to  them 
as  a  reward  ?  They  knew  better.  The  alterna- 
tive explanation  is  that  it  was  given  to  their  faith. 
They  heard,  they  listened,  they  pondered,  they 
believed  ;  and  their  faith  was  sealed  by  grace. 
Now  what  was  true  of  the  beginning  of  their 
spiritual  life,  must  also  be  true  of  the  continuance 
and  perfection  of  it.  If  it  is  by  faith  in  the  one, 
it  must  be  by  faith  in  the  other.  In  a  sentence, 
the  two  great  laws  and  conditions  of  personal 
holiness  as  taught  in  this  Epistle  are  these  :  that 
the  work  of  holiness  in  the  soul  is  from  first  to 
last  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that  this 
Holy  Spirit  is  freely  and  abundantly  and  con- 
tinually given  to  those  who  believe. 

When  the  apostle  affirms  the  great  principle 
of  grace  as  essential  to  holiness,  he  does  not 
content  himself  with  a  sonorous  generality  ;  but 
he  indicates  in  a  very  clear  and  precise  fashion 
that  holiness  means  a  struggle  and  conflict 
between  two  opposing  principles,  and  that  what 
has  been  beautifully  called  "the  positiveness  of  the 
divine  life"  is  the  true  method  of  a  progressive 
sanctity. 

Under  three  distinct  illustrations,  and  in  three 
different  portions  of  his  writings,  the  apostle 
portrays,  emphasises,  and  defines  the  conflict  of 
the    regenerate    soul.      In    the    famous    seventh 


196  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  susceptible 
no  doubt  of  many  explanations,  and  capable  of 
application  to  various  stages  of  the  soul's  expe- 
rience, St.  Paul  speaks — it  is  a  personal  expe- 
rience, but  common  to  all  of  us — of  delighting 
in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man  ;  yet  of 
his  also  seeing  another  law  in  his  members 
warring  against  the  law  of  his  mind,  and  bring- 
ing him  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  in  his 
members.  It  is  not  the  past  which  he  recalls  ; 
it  is  the  present  which  he  laments  ;  and  a  mighty 
groan  goes  forth  from  that  saintly  conscience, 
"  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  who  shall  deliver 
me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  In  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  the  same  truth  is 
asserted,  not  now  under  the  figure  of  a  battle,  but 
under  that  of  a  garment.  "  That  ye  put  off"  fas 
an  old  and  defiled  robe)  "  concerning  the  former 
conversation  the  old  man,  which  is  corrupt 
according  to  the  deceitful  lusts  ....  and  that 
ye  put  on  the  new  man,  which  after  God  is 
created  in  righteousness,  and  true  holiness." 
Writing  to  the  Galatians,  he  reverts  to  a  figure 
analogous  to  that  in  his  letter  to  the  Romans, 
of  incessant  inevitable  conflict  between  flesh 
and  spirit,  "  for  the  flesh  lusteth  against  the 
spirit"  (the  old  against  the  new  nature),  "and 
the  spirit  against  the  flesh  ;  and  these  arc 
contrary  the  one  to  the  other,  so  that  ye  cannot 
do  the  things  that  ye  would."  But  the  infer- 
ence   he    draws   is  direct,    and    the   counsel   he 


"COMING  BEHIND  IN  NO  GIF1  197 

offers  practical  in  the  highest  degree.  "  This 
I  say  then,  walk  in  the  spirit,  and  ye  shall  not 
fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh."  "If  we  live  in 
the  spirit,  let  us  also  walk  in  the  spirit." 

In  other  words,  the  only  way  of  subduing  the 
old  nature  is  by  cultivating  the  new  ;  and  if  we 
would  not  do  the  works  of  the  flesh,  we  must 
bring  forth  the  fruits  of  the  spirit.  The  Divine 
Voice  whispers  not  only  "  Thou  shalt  not,"  but 
"  Thou  shalt."  The  way  to  conquer  selfishness 
is  to  do  little  constant,  delicate,  secret  acts  of 
self-denying  love  ;  and  to  subdue  pride,  we  must 
wash  our  brothers'  feet,  and  seek  the  lowest 
room,  in  honour  preferring  one  another,  and 
never  laying  traps  for  praise.  If  we  are  covetous, 
let  us  regularly  and  resolutely  lay  aside  a  definite 
portion  of  our  income  for  judicious  and  well- 
proportioned  distribution  as  "every  man  hath 
need."  If  we  are  tempted  to  resentment  or 
irritability,  let  us  cultivate  gentleness  and  a 
manful  forbearance.  If  we  are  apt  to  be  self- 
indulgent,  let  us,  without  making  life  intolerable 
and  so  provoking  a  swift  reaction,  often  den}' 
ourselves  in  little  things.  If  we  are  unsociable 
and  self-sufficing,  let  us  go  into  society,  and  give 
all  our  sympathies  to  those  who  need  them.  In 
this  way,  most  surely,  solidly,  rapidly,  the  divine 
life  is  built  up  within  us,  and  we  become  in- 
creasingly partakers  of  the  divine  nature.  In 
this  \vay,too,we  form  the  habit  of  goodness,  which 
becomes  easier,  sweeter,  more  self-recompen-ing, 


198  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

more  natural,  year  by  year.  In  this  way,  further, 
we  cultivate  the  friendship  of  our  Lord,  and  He  can 
come  to  visit  us,  sure  of  a  welcome,  sure  of  abundant 
heart-room,  sure  of  being  listened  to,  even  in  His 
faintest  whispers,  sure  of  being  obeyed,  when  He 
would  guide  us  with  but  a  look  of  His  eye. 

Christian  reader,  we  talk  about  holiness,  and 
we  admire  it,  and  we  press  it  on  others,  and 
with  lip-service  at  least  we  affect  to  lament  the 
lack  of  it  in  ourselves.  But  are  we  so  sure  that 
we  really  and  deeply  care  for  it  ?  Are  we  ready 
to  practise  that  inward  discipline  of  spirit,  with- 
out which  it  can  only  be  a  vain  dream  ?  The 
Spirit  comes  to  us  by  the  hearing  of  faith  ;  and 
in  this  sense  it  is  that  holiness  comes  by  faith. 
It  is  equally  true  that  it  will  never  come  to  those 
who  are  content  with  hearing  it  preached  about, 
but  whose  only  actual  approach  to  it  is  in  the 
perilous  luxury  of  books  of  devotion.  Prayer, 
as  we  said  before,  means  hard  work,  and  holi- 
ness is  hard  work  ;  and  we  shall  never  come  to 
resemble  or  enjoy  God  by  sitting  on  a  sofa  and 
feebly  sighing  after  it.  St.  Paul  bids  us  work 
out  our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling. 
The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  has  pronounced  a  special 
beatitude  and  a  mighty  satisfaction  on  those 
who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness.  He 
has  also  said — and  who  shall  gauge  the  awful 
depths  of  those  tremendous  words  ? — "  Whoso- 
ever forsaketh  not  all  that  he  hath  cannot  be  my 
disciple." 


SORROW 


Sorrow  is  the  deepest  thins;  in  the  world. 

Prebendary  Eyton. 


THE  CONSOLATIONS  OF  GOD 

Arc  the  consolations  of  God  small  with  thcc  ? — Jon  xv.   it. 

TWO  striking  and  consoling  suggestions  have 
been  made  about  sorrow.  One  points  out 
that  it  marks  a  real  era  in  life  when  a  man  begins 
to  feel  that  he  needs  comforting  at  all.  In  the 
earl)'  morning  of  our  fresh  and  indefatigable 
energies  it  is  not  rest,  or  peace,  or  healing  that 
we  care  for,  so  much  as  an  opening  to  give  us 
the  chance  of  showing  what  we  are  fit  for.  It 
is  the  first  breakdown,  whether  in  bodily  health 
or  in  the  companionships  that  make  home  lovely 
and  desirable,  or  in  the  favour  of  our  fellow- 
men,  or  in  our  own  capacity  and  self-respect, 
that  brings  a  darkness  over  our  sky  and  checks 
us  in  our  headlong  speed,  and  keenly  humbles 
us,  and  impels  us  to  plead  for  the  sympathy  of 
men  and  the  kindness  of  God.  There  is,  more- 
over, no  truer  test  of  a  man's  spiritual  condition 
than  the  sort  of  remedy  which  gives  him  comfort. 


erti 


202  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Some  think  of  their  money.  Some  plunge  into 
diversion  and  business.  Some  forget  their 
trouble  in  incessant  distraction.  Some,  not  too 
many,  flee  in  their  distress  to  God. 
An  info--  The  question  before  us  is  emphasised  by  the 
inevitable  inference  that  with  most  of  us  the 
consolations  of  God  are  small  when  they  might 
be,  are  meant  to  be,  large.  For,  first  of  all, 
even  when  a  man  has  no  wish  to  harden  himself 
in  his  grief,  yet,  though  he  may  be  content  to 
be  helped  by  man,  he  may  refuse  to  be  comforted 
by  God.  There  is  sometimes  a  resentment 
within  him,  a  sense  of  inequitableness  and  wrong, 
which  tempt  him  to  hard  thoughts  of  One  Who, 
he  always  thought,  called  Himself  Father,  but 
Who  is  putting  him  to  intolerable  anguish 
without  sufficient  cause.  We  all  of  us  know 
something  of  this  feeling.  Even  if  it  passes,  it 
visits  us.  With  some  it  lingers,  by  others  it  is 
instantly  rejected  as  an  injury  and  dishonour. 
Some  never  escape  from  it  till  they  die.  More- 
over, we  are  all  apt  to  forget  that  the  consolations 
of  God  chiefly  flow  to  us  through  the  sympathies 
of  men  ;  that  the  glance  of  infinite  compassion, 
the  pressure  of  the  trembling  hand,  the  silence 
so  full  of  wisdom  and  tact,  the  bright  radiant 
smile  of  faith  and  hope,  the  kneeling  down  for 
the  quiet  intercession  that  may  not  be  uttered, 
the  kiss  of  peace,  and  the  wrestlings  in  prayer 
afterwards  for  the  wounded  sufferer  left  alone  in 
the  darkness  of  the  blinding  and  crushing  loss, 


SORROW  20  \ 

are  all  from  God  and  through  Him — His  gift. 
His  consolation,  though  in  the  shape  of  tin 
ministries  of  men. 

What  arc  the  consolations  of  God  J  Theconso- 

First,   the   thought  of  His   power.      This,   ofgjj?"'* 
course,  may  only  convey  the  sense  of  an  unspeak- 
able alarm  ;  and  indeed  never  do  we  feel  more  as 
clay  in  the  hand  of  the  potter,  than  in  the  crises 
of  our  life  which  sorrow  brings.      But   is    there 
any   promise   in    all    the  world  better   than  that 
which  St.    Paul   has  given   us,   that   "  all   things 
work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God?" 
This  divine  alchemy  for  those  who   can    suffer, 
trust,  and  wait,  is  the  certain  end  of  all.      "  All 
power  belongeth   unto  God,"  and  His   power  is 
for  His  people,  and  ever  exercised  for  their  good. 
The  end  of  Job,  the  career  of  Joseph,  the  cap- 
tivity of  St.    Paul,  all  justify    His   wisdom  and 
glorify    His  power.      The   thought   of   His  cha- 
racter   is     another    consolation.      God   is    love. 
"  Like  as  a   father  pitieth  his  children,    so   the 
Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  Him."    But  His  love, 
just  because  it  is  divine,  ever  aims  at  the  holiness 
of  His  children.      We  are  to  be  transformed  into 
the  image  of  His    Son,  that   He  may  be  made 
"firstborn  among  many  brethren."      Sorrow  has 
the  unique  faculty  of  illuminating  and  purifying, 
and  weaning  and   elevating  the  soul.      It  opens 
for  a  man  a  window  into  his  spirit,  and  enables 
him   to  see,  what  otherwise  he  never  could  have 
seen,  some  of  the  deeper  secrets  of  his   inmost 


204  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

life.  They  are  not  pleasant  to  see,  and  some- 
times it  is  real  anguish  to  see  them  ;  but  they 
must  be  seen,  and  the  seeing  comes  through  the 
pain.  This  was  Job's  experience.  "  I  have 
heard  of  Thee  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear,  but  now 
mine  eye  seeth  Thee  :  therefore  I  abhor  myself, 
and  repent  in  dust  and  ashes." 

It  purifies,  through  the  grace  of  God  bringing 
home  to  the  awakened  conscience  the  power  of 
the  cleansing  blood,  and  the  promise  of  the  free 
and  present  and  full  forgiveness.  God's  gifts  all  go 
together.  Sorrow  weans  us,  for  we  see  how  little 
to  be  trusted,  whether  for  permanency  or  life,  are 
the  things  on  which  once  we  set  our  hearts,  and  for 
which  we  were  content  to  risk  everything.  In 
the  moment  when  we  discover  how  little  the 
whole  world  is  worth,  our  hearts  go  up  to  God 
-and  rest  on  Him.  For  sorrow,  rightly  inter- 
preted, elevates  us,  and  lifts  us  up  to  Him  for 
Whose  presence  it  is  preparing  us,  and  Whose 
love  we  are  beginning  to  understand.  "Whom 
have  I  in  Heaven  but  Thee,  and  there  is  none 
upon  earth  that  I  desire  in  comparison  with  Thee," 
is  the  soul's  address  to  God,  first  learnt  and 
understood  when  He  has  been  made  its  refuge. 
There  is  also  the  thought  of  His  purpose,  in  which 
His  consolations  come  to  be  so  blessed  and  so 
real.  His  purpose  is  twofold.  To  reveal  Him- 
self, and  to  enable  us  thereby  to  reveal  Him  to 
others.  We  should  never  know  the  beautiful- 
ness,   the  tenderness,  the  unspeakable  kindness 


SORROW  205 

of  God  but  through  the  discipline  of  sorrow,  even 
when  continuous  and  interrupting  all  active  duty 
— sorrow  that  hinders  devotion,  and  sorrow  that 
benumbs  the  soul. 

Some  who  read  these  words  may  be  able  to 
appreciate  from  their  own  experience  that  never 
is  it  more  possible  to  say,  "  O  God,  how  Thou 
dost  love  me — how  my  heart  trembles  and  longs 
to  love  Thee  in  return,"  than  in  moments  of  keen 
anguish,  paralysing  disappointment,  or  inconsol- 
able distress.  For  some  distress  is  inconsolable, 
and  is  meant  to  be.  Even  into  the  mystery  of 
the  incarnate  life  came  the  discipline  of  sorrow, 
as  if  no  real  human  soul  could  reach  its  best 
without  it.  "  Though  he  were  a  Son,  yet  learned 
He  obedience  through  the  things  which  lie 
suffered."  To  be  taught  the  loveliness  of  God, 
and  thereby  to  learn  the  fruition  of  His  glorious 
Godhead,  is  worth  a  good  deal  of  earthly  loss. 
Then  there  is  the  blessed  duty  of  revealing  Him 
to  others,  the  insight  and  capacity  for  which  can 
only  be  learned  by  personal  sorrow.  Here,  and 
also  hereafter.  The  life-long  sorrows  of  some 
of  God's  saints  need  from  them  no  explanations, 
no  defence.  They  are  not  the  persons  to  wonder 
at  it,  or  to  murmur  about  it,  nor  do  you  ever 
hear  them  querulously  complaining  of  their  use- 
lessness,  though  their  years  arc  passed  in  the 
four  corners  of  a  room.  It  is  often  the  patient 
sufferers  who  are  the  most  potent  instruments  for 
God.      Those  who   stand  by  and  wonder  will   do 


message  to 
men. 


206  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

well  to  remember  that  we  are  made  and  trained 
for  eternity  :  that  life  is  just  going  to  school  with 
our  Father;  that  in  the  coming  aeons  of  joy,  and 
service,  and  knowledge,  and  worship,  the  weak 
here  will  be  the  strong  there.  Those  whom  we 
ignorantly  pitied  and  tenderly  comforted  here 
may  be  in  the  van  of  the  multitude  which  no 
man  can  number. 
Sorrow  a  But  also  to  men  now  have  those  who  suffer  a 
true  mission  from  God.  That  it  is  so  the 
apostle  makes  very  plain,  "  Blessed  be  the  God 
of  all  comfort,  Who  comforteth  us  in  all  our  tri- 
bulation, that  we  may  be  able  to  comfort  them 
which  are  in  any  trouble,  by  the  comfort  where- 
with we  ourselves  are  comforted  of  God.  "  We 
are  pupils  that  we  may  be  teachers,  we  receive 
to  share,  we  take  what  we  are  to  pass  on.  We 
are  to  be  witnesses  of  God  to  men,  to  feel  able 
and  thankful  to  tell  them  what  He  is  in  Himself, 
and  what  He  is  willing  to  become  to  them,  if 
they  will  sit  at  His  feet  and  hear  His  voice  ;  and 
as  the  evidence  and  proof  of  it  all  to  learn  to 
say,  "Time  was  when  I  knew  nothing  of  Him, 
but  He  knew  me,  and  waited  to  be  gracious  to 
me,  and  when  He  saw  me  lonely  and  weary  and 
sad,  came  to  visit  me,  and  little  by  little  explained 
Himself  to  me,  until  I  knew  and  believed  His 
love,  and  opened  all  my  heart  for  Him  to  come 
in  and  be  King.  What  He  has  been  to  me  He 
will  be  to  you,  and  the  comfort  He  has  given  to 
me  He  will  give  to  you,  but  on  the  one  condition 


SORROW  207 

that  you  ask  Him  for  it.  He  will  conic  Lo  you, 
but  you  must  go  to  meet  Him.  When  you  hear 
Him  knocking,  lift  up  the  latch  and  let  Him  in." 
We  shall  never  have  done  with  sorrow  until  we 
die.  It  is  of  course  a  mistake  to  say  that  we  do 
not  also  need  what  is  understood  by  prosperity. 
The  earth  needs  sunshine  as  well  as  cloud.  To 
be  constantly  anticipating  sorrow  breeds  a  mor- 
bidness of  soul,  inconsistent  with  the  joyousness 
of  faith.  To  wish  for  it  is  to  do  violence  to  the 
soul's  healthy  instincts.  Trials  will  change  with 
the  changing  years  ;  but  they  bring  strength  and 
grace  with  them  as  our  characters  need  it.  The 
soul's  refuge  is  in  God.  If  we  flee  to  Him  to 
hide  us,  He  will  be  the  cup  of  our  inheritance, 
and  the  portion  of  our  lot,  and  our  souls  shall 
be  kept  in  perfect  peace.  "  My  son,  despise  not 
thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lord,  nor  faint  when 
thou  art  rebuked  of  Him.  For  whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  chasteneth,  and  scourgeth  every  son 
whom  He  receiveth." 


2o8  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

II 

A   CLOUDED  SOUL 

Who  is  among  you   that  feareth   the  Lord,  that  obeyeth  the  voice 

of  his  servant,  that  walketh  in  darkness  and  hath  no  light .' 
Let  him  trust  in  the  name  of  the  Lord,  let  him  stay  upon 
his  God. — Isaiah  1.  10. 

ET  it  be  clearly  understood  that  this  is  the 
case  of  a  believer,  whose  loss  of  God  is  not 
brought  about  by  his  own  misconduct,  and  whose 
want  of  light  does  not  come  from  lack  of  love. 
A  believer's  The  mystery  may  be  greater,  and  the  cloud  that 
encompasses  the  working  of  the  divine  Righteous- 
ness may  have  less  of  silver  to  its  lining,  but  the 
fact  comes  out  with  all  its  melancholy  but  most 
instructive  emphasis,  that  a  loss  of  the  sense  of 
God's  favour  does  not  of  necessity  imply  a  loss 
of  the  favour  itself,  and  that  among  the  manifold 
and  disciplinary  processes  of  the  divine  correc- 
tion a  shadowed  and  lonely  experience  has  a 
foremost,  an  intentional  place. 

It  matters  little  by  what  special  methods  God's 
providence  may  fashion  the  trial.  The  trial  is 
the  same,  whatever  brings  it  about.  Physical 
disease,  hereditary  temperament,  abnormal  and 
exhausting  labour,  sensitiveness  of  the  nervous 
forces  in   turn   produce,  or    accentuate,   or   more 


SORROW  209 

or  less  explain,  the  gloom  or  solitariness  of  the 
troubled  soul.  They  arc  simply  instruments  of 
the  divine  will,  which  is  fulfilling  itself  by  means 
of  them.  The  Fatherliness  of  God's  love  has 
something  to  teach  and  to  give  His  child — to 
teach  and  to  give  the  Church,  through  and  by 
means  of  His  child,  in  this  way,  and  in  no  other. 
The  believer  himself  is  to  trust  and  to  wait. 
Those  who  look  on  in  the  solemn  consciousness 
that  some  day  that  darkest  and  bitterest  of  cups 
may  be  put  to  their  own  lips,  are  to  pity,  inter- 
cede, and  adore.  What  is  meant  by  the  dark-  The  nature 
ness  in  which  one  who  fears  God  and  does  His'^.ff'  ' 
will  is  permitted,  even  ordained,  to  walk  by  One 
Who  has  expressly  told  us  that  joy  is  to  be  in 
the  dwellings  of  the  righteous,  and  that  His 
own  joy  is  to  be  His  people's  strength  ?  First 
of  all  the  darkness  may  be  of  an  intellectual 
character,  and  may  affect  the  very  acceptance 
of  a  revelation  from  God.  To  most  sincere 
thinkers  who  come  into  contact  with  the  current 
literature  of  our  age,  not  through  any  reluctance 
to  believe,  but  through  the  very  honesty  that 
forbids  them  to  accept  too  easily  a  religion  which 
promises  so  much  in  itself,  there  will  come  occa- 
sionally misgivings  and  doubts  as  to  the  docu- 
ments which  profess  to  record  the  history  of  its 
origin,  or  as  to  the  adequacy  of  the  materials 
offered  to  substantiate  it.  We  have  a  good 
deal  more  to  do  with  second  causes  than  our 
fathers  had,  and  the  machinery  of  creation  seems 

o 


210  ESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

to  hide  and  complicate  the  agency  of  the  Hand 
behind  it.  God  does  not  demonstrate  Himself, 
or  there  would  be  no  such  thing  possible  as 
faith.  Perhaps  to  see  God  there  must  be  a  sort 
of  moral  affinity  that  makes  us  desire  Him. 
Few  things  to  a  soul  truly  longing  to  walk  in 
the  light  of  God's  countenance  are  more  disturb- 
ing, some  would  even  say  more  agonising,  than 
even  the  bare  possibility  that  there  may  be  no 
God  after  all  whom  human  spirits  can  know, 
hear,  worship,  resemble,  serve,  love,  with  any 
adequate  sense  of  security  that  they  are  not 
pursuing  a  shadow,  which  their  own  fancy  has 
projected  on  the  invisible  world.  Such  doubts 
are  not  sins  ;  some  would  go  so  far  as  to  say 
that  they  are  not  even  temptations  ;  but  to  pure 
and  devout  souls  they  are  an  unspeakable  and 
awful  trial.  The  very  truthfulness  of  a  man's 
intellectual  nature  seems  to  turn  against  him 
and  torment  him  as  he  lies  stretched  on  the 
rack  of  this  awful  conflict. 

This  darkness  is  also  created  for  some  of  us 
by  the  perplexing  nature  of  God's  moral  govern- 
ment of  the  world.  This  is  so  much  the  case 
that  good  men  without  duties  or  interests  can 
easily  think  themselves  into  misapprehension  of 
the  gravest  kind  about  the  God  Whom  in  their 
own  case  they  long  ago  learned  to  recognise 
and  adore  as  full  of  fatherly  love  and  kindness. 
The  loftier  our  ideal  of  God,  the  nobler  our 
moral   instincts   of  justice  and   mercy,  the  larger 


SORROW  2ii 

our  spirit  (it  philanthropy,  the  more  burning'  and 
vehement  our  hatred  of  cruelty  and  wrong,  the 
harder  may  be  the  problem  for  us  to  reconcile 
what  we  think  God  ought  to  do,  with  what  we 
find  I  [e  actually  does  do.  We  often  torture 
ourselves  with  speculations  as  to  the  entrance 
of  evil  into  the  world,  and  instead  of  setting 
ourselves  to  try  to  overcome  it  with  good,  we 
waste  time  and  temper  in  quenching  a  volcano 
with  tears.  An  earnest  man  wishes  to  under- 
stand all  about  God.  God  does  not  promise 
anything  of  the  kind  on  this  side  the  grave,  but 
claims  to  be  trusted.  If  He  were  to  try  to 
make  everything  plain  to  us,  the  probability  is 
that  we  should  be  no  better  off  than  before.  If 
we  cannot  trust  Him,  we  only  make  the  outside 
darkness  darker,  and  extinguish  the  light  which 
faith  would  bring  into  the  soul. 

There  is  another  sort  of  darkness,  which  I 
have  kept  to  the  last.  It  is  the  darkest  and 
saddest  of  all.  I  mean  the  darkness  of  the  soul 
which  feels  deserted  by  the  Presence  of  the 
Lord ;  which  clings,  but  feels  nothing  to  cling 
to  ;  which  prays,  but  no  sense  of  being  heard 
comes  back  to  help  and  cheer  ;  which  loves,  and 
pleads,  and  waits,  and  all  is  like  winter  at  the 
pole.  Sometimes  this  comes  towards  the  close 
of  life,  sometimes  in  the  midst  of  its  activities  ; 
sometimes  the  preacher  almost  feels  himself  a 
hypocrite  in  promising  consolations  which  he 
does    not  taste  himself;   sometimes  the  troubled 


212  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

spirit,  bereft  of  everything  else  but  its  Lord,  at 
last  seems  to  be  bereft  of  all  that  made  other 
losses  tolerable,  other  silences  beautiful.  If  God 
goes,  the  universe  goes.  "  Let  me  die,  I  am  no 
better  than  my  fathers." 

The  greatest  and  the  strongest  have  passed 
through  these  deep  waters,  and  the  deepest  and 
the  bravest  know  no  immunity  from  it.  It  is 
the  consolation  of  consolations  that  the  Son  of 
God,  at  the  moment  when  He  was  expiating  the 
world's  sin  and  manifesting  His  Father's  love  to 
the  universe,  lost  the  sustaining  sense  of  His 
presence,  and  mourned  for  it  with  a  cry  that  still 
echoes  in  the  conscience  of  the  world.  If  God 
hid  Himself  from  His  Son  on  the  cross,  it  was 
not  because  He  did  not  love  Him,  but  because 
He  desired  that  all  down  the  ages  that  exceeding- 
bitter  cry  should  be  the  typical  utterance  of  filial 
trust  in  the  Eternal  Father.  When  God  hides 
Himself  from  us  it  need  not  be  either  because 
He  is  displeased  with  us  or  has  ceased  to  love  us. 
He  trusts  us  so  much  that  He  honours  us  in 
making  us  the  witnesses  of  His  faithfulness.  Be- 
cause we  follow  Him  so  much,  we  will  trust  and 
confess  Him  unto  death. 

When  we  see  those  whom  we  love  and  revere 
wrapped  in  this  mantle  of  darkness  ;  when  we 
feel  it  approaching  us  from  the  distance,  and 
watch  its  gathering  shadows  covering  our  own 
clear  sky  with  its  pall  of  ink  ;  what  shall  we  feel, 
what  shall  we  do,  what   shall  our  answer  be  to 


SORROW  213 

those  whose  faith  is  tried  by  it,  perhaps  far  more 
than  our  own? 

First,  let   us   remember,  as    lias   been  grandly  Our  eon- 
said,  that  the  two  greatest  moral  evils  are  levity  [^ //,',''., '/'' 
and   despair,  and  that  when   God  would  help  us 
to  protect  ourselves  and  others  against  them,  He 
prevents    levity    by    deepening    us    through    the 
discipline  of  sorrow  ;   He   makes   despair  impos- 
sible, by  proposing  duty  to  the  soul.    Shallowness 
is    fatal,    whether   to    usefulness    or    sanctity   or 
knowledge.      How  can  God  occupy  a  soul  which 
has  no   room  for   Him  ?      God   makes   room,  but 
the  process  of  breaking  idols,  and  cleansing   the 
temple  of  their  presence,  is  never  without  pain.    No 
one  can  despair  who  is  at  work.    It  is  the  useless, 
the  idle,  the  loungers  who  pass  their  lives  stand- 
ing on  the  river-bank,  and  watching  their  fellows 
drift  down  the  rapids  into  the  sea  without  putting 
forth  a  hand   to   save    them,  who    think   there  is 
nothing    to    be    done,    because    they  are   doing 
nothing   themselves.      The   souls   on  whom   this 
trial  of  fire  passes  should  be  thankful  to  be  made 
more  capacious  for  the  possession  of  God  ;   they 
should   not  let  duty  go,  because  no  joy  comes  in 
the  doing  of  it.      Any  one  can  work  for  wages. 
God  wants    men  who  will    work   without  wages, 
except  the  honour  of  serving  Him.      The  fact  that 
He  sent  us  into   the  vineyard,  and  that  it  is  for 
Him  we  till  it,  must    be    enough.      Again,  let  us 
clearly  distinguish  between  the  joy  of  possessing 
God  and  the  joy  of  the  sense  of  possessing  Him. 


2i4  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

One  is  the  essence,  the  other  is  the  accident  ; 
the  one  is  salvation,  the  other  comfort.  Our 
religion  needs  robustness ;  we  must  not  expect 
sweetmeats  or  cordials  as  daily  food.  Barley 
bread  and  two  small  fishes  were  the  food  of  the 
apostles,  and  must  be  ours.  Of  course,  I  remem- 
ber that  in  the  trouble  I  am  writing  about  there 
is  frequently  not  only  the  sense  of  loss,  but  even 
of  estrangement ;  not  merely  that  there  is  no 
smile  on  the  Father's  face,  but  that  there  is  the 
felt  shadow  of  a  frown.  It  is  not  midnight,  it 
is  darkness  at  noonday.  Still  God  is,  and  He  is 
ours.  His  perfections,  His  government,  His 
purpose,  are  unchanged.  Nothing  can  rob  us 
of  the  exquisite  revelation  of  His  past  mercy, 
and  who  shall  separate  us  from  the  everlasting 
arms  of  His  love  ?  "  Though  He  slay  me,  yet 
will  I  trust  Him  ;"  "  If  I  die,  I  will  die  clinging 
to  the  cross." 

Lastly,  this  depression  and  loneliness,  though 
real,  acute,  absorbing,  are  only  for  a  time,  and 
affect  not  the  substance  of  our  life,  but  the  sur- 
face of  it ;  not  our  inheritance  in  God,  but  our 
enjoyment  of  its  bliss.  By  patience,  by  cheer- 
fulness, by  sympathy,  by  going  out  of  ourselves 
to  comfort  and  help  others,  by  forgetting  our  own 
misery  in  promoting  the  kingdom  of  God,  we 
manifest  God's  faithfulness,  and  (without  knowing 
it)  we  help  ourselves  on  to  the  end  of  the  cloud. 
"  At  evening  time  it  shall  be  light."  Above 
the   darkest    cloud,  in    the   light   which    no   man 


SORROW  215 

can   approach    unto,   the    Lord    God   Omnipotent 
reigneth. 

Ill 
DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Who  hath  believed  our  report i — Isaiah  liii.  1. 

C\\:  all  kinds  of  sorrow,  disappointment  is  at 
once  the  most  universal,  inevitable,  abiding-, 
pathetic,  and  in  some  aspects  of  it  noble.  The 
man  who  fails,  and  docs  not  care  for  failing,  will 
never  deserve  to  succeed.  The  man  who  desires, 
if  it  be  a  good  and  lofty  thing  that  he  desires, 
supposing  him  to  be  a  man  of  purpose,  tender- 
ness, and  insight,  should  he  desire  it  in  vain, 
cannot  be  quite  the  same  man  afterwards.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  greatest  men  in 
the  world — those  whom  we  respect,  admire,  even 
love  more  than  any  others — are  those  who,  when 
they  missed  their  aim,  even  though  they  did  not 
take  the  world  into  their  confidence,  carried  the 
marks  of  their  trouble  on  them  to  the  grave. 
Elijah  on  Horeb,  John  Baptist  in  the  dungeon  of 
Machaerus,  ma)'  we  not  add  the  apostle  in  his 
prison  at  Caesarea,  longing  for  liberty  and  for 
Rome,  touch  our  hearts  and  win  our  enthusiasm, 
even  more  than  the  grandest  of  conquerors  at  the 
pinnacle  of  their  triumph.    For  prophets  and  cvan- 


216  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

gclists  to  be  human,  and  to  make  us  feel  it,  tightens 
the  cord  that  unites  the  least  and  the  greatest. 
Let  us  glance  at  some  of  the  disappointments 
which  fill  such  a  large  place  in  the  chapter  of 
earthly  sorrow  ;  and  then  ask  what  we  are  to  do 
with  them,  if  we  would  fulfil  the  counsel  of  God. 
There  are — to  select  a  few  out  of  many — 
disappointments  in  our  earthly  affairs,  in  our 
moral  and  religious  progress,  and  (as  the 
prophet's  question  indicates)  in  our  public 
duty  for  God.  Disappointments  in  earthly 
affairs  come  to  all  of  us  in  turn,  and  in  the 
Hush  of  youth  cause  us  keener  pain  than  at 
any  other  period.  Nay,  they  are  often  the  only 
sorrows  we  are  then  called  to  know.  They 
pass  ;  they  leave  their  mark,  which  is  what  they 
are  meant  to  do  ;  when  we  look  back  at  them 
over  a  vista  of  years,  how  thankful  we  feel  they 
came.  God  said  No  to  us  about  what  would 
have  been  harmful,  presently  to  say  Yes  to 
us  about  what  was  helpful.  To  all  who  are  sore 
with  trouble  of  this  kind,  the  Psalmist's  words 
should  come  home,  full  of  healing  wisdom:  "Rest 
in  the  Lord,  and  wait  patiently  for  Him.  Be 
of  good  courage  and  He  shall  strengthen  your 
heart,  all  ye  that  hope  in  the  Lord."  Disap- 
pointments in  our  moral  and  religious  progress 
have  a  morbid  as  well  as  a  healthy  side  ;  are 
occasionally  the  result  of  over-introspection,  are 
suggested  by  the  secret  repinings  of  spiritual 
pride.      Self-consciousness   is   the   bane  of  sim- 


sokkow  217 

plicity,  and  simplicity  is  the  flower  of  the  soul. 
To  forget  ourselves  as  much  as  possible,  to  walk 
in  the  light  as  God  is  in  the  light,  without  too 
much  thinking  about  it,  but  as  a  simple  matter 
of  course,  because  we  belong  to  Him  ;  to  avoid 
watching  our  growth,  but  to  trust  God  with  it, 
while  we  do  our  duty  in  and  for  Him,  is  the  ideal 
life,  and  the  life  that  is  also  possible  for  all. 

But  often  it  is  too  high  for  us,  we  cannot 
attain  unto  it.  Our  faults  are  like  weeds,  which 
may  be  cut  down  with  the  mower's  scythe,  but 
which  have  their  living  roots  far  down  below. 
Sometimes  they  take  us  by  surprise,  and  are  too 
much  for  us  ;  and  then  in  an  unguarded  moment 
we  seem  to  have  lost  the  spoils  of  years,  and  to 
have  gone  back  to  our  petulant  and  undisciplined 
childhood.  It  is  still  hard  to  love  God  for 
Himself,  it  is  still  hard  to  carry  the  cross  which 
I  le  chooses  for  us,  and  to  surrender  the  treasures 
which  He  claims.  Jealousy,  or  selfishness,  or 
pride,  or  worldliness  seem  as  vital  and  mis- 
chievous in  us  as  ever.  There  is  but  one  thing 
wc  seem  to  be  sure  of — and  the  multiplying 
years  have  at  least  done  this  for  us  ;  we  see 
more  than  we  ever  did  how  beautiful,  how  glo- 
rious, how  heart-satisfying  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  ;  and  if  we  seem  as  far  off  as  ever 
from  having  attained  to  anything  of  His  perfec- 
tion, His  image  seems  more  desirable  than  ever, 
His  love  passeth  knowledge.  All  sorts  of 
remedies  are   given  us  :   this   teacher  and    that 


218  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

teacher  profess  to  tell  the  secret  of  a  sinless 
life.  One  tells  us  that  holiness  is  by  faith. 
So  it  is,  if  it  is  meant  that  faith  is  the  secret 
of  that  plentiful  grace  which  can  alone  build  us 
up  into  our  Lord.  So  it  is  not,  if  it  is  meant 
that  faith  or  anything  else  can  modify,  suspend, 
or  repeal  the  immutable  laws  of  the  spiritual 
kingdom,  or  that  any  amount  of  believing  what 
is  not  true  can  make  what  is  never  promised  or 
intended  come  to  pass.  To  all  souls  beauti- 
fully, grandly  disappointed  from  time  to  time,  by 
the  shallowness  of  their  knowledge,  or  the  incon- 
sistency of  their  lives,  or  the  indevoutness  of 
their  worship,  or  the  poverty  of  their  love  (these 
disappointments  are  in  God's  good  providence 
transitory  phases,  not  permanent  depressions), 
let  me  offer  a  word  of  warning  and  a  word  of 
counsel. 

While  there  is  practically  no  limitation  set  to 
our  moral  and  spiritual  progress,  the  old  Adam 
nature  in  us  makes  absolute  sinlessness  a  pre- 
sumptuous dream.  We  cannot  hate  sin  too 
much,  nor  watch  against  it  too  constantly,  nor 
crucify  it  too  relentlessly.  But  it  is  always 
here — living,  and  visible,  till  death  translates 
us  into  the  sinless  land.  The  constant  imita- 
tion of  the  Lord  must  be  our  one  purpose,  "  Let 
this  mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ 
Jesus."  The  Indwelling  Christ  must  be  our  safe- 
guard :  "  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  nevertheless 
I    live,  yet    not   I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me;  and 


SORROW  219 

the  life  which   I   now  live  in  the  flesh    1  live  by 

the  faitli  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and 
gave  Himself  for  me."  Walking  in  the  light 
shall  ensure  our  continual  pardon  :  "  If  we  walk 
in  the  light  as  He  is  in  the  light  we  have  fellow- 
ship one  with  another ;  and  the  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Son,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin." 

The  other  kind  of  disappointment — that  in- 
curred in  our  public  duty  towards  God — is 
indicated  by  the  prophet's  complaint.  It  is  the 
noblest  of  all,  for  it  ought  to  have  the  least  amount 
of  self  in  it.  "  Who  hath  believed  our  report  ?  " 
The  preacher  preaches,  and  hearts  are  still  hard. 
The  mother  prays,  but  the  son  of  her  love  will 
not  yield  himself  to  the  Saviour.  There  is  the 
philanthropist,  who  yearns  for  the  deliverance 
of  the  tempted  and  oppressed  ;  the  teacher, 
who  feels  that  the  message  he  has  to  deliver, 
were  it  believed,  would  change  the  face  of  the 
world  ;  the  statesman,  who  longs  for  measures 
to  make  it  easier  for  men  to  be  virtuous  and 
temperate  ;  the  missionary,  who  sees  millions 
for  whom  his  Lord  suffered  under  the  iron  yoke 
of  corruption  and  idolatry,  but  who  year  after 
year  utters  his  message,  and  men  are  as  deaf  to 
it  as  the  fury  of  the  sea  to  the  song  of  a  child. 
These  know  what  disappointment  is  ;  we  respect, 
we  honour,  we  love  them  for  their  disappoint- 
ment. All  we  say  is,  and  with  the  deepest  reve- 
rence, God  feels  it  as  much  as  you  do,  and  be- 
cause He  feels  it  you  feel  it.      But  if  He  will  not 


220  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

take  short  cuts  for  healing  the  world's  miseries, 
you  must  not  wish  to  take  them.  You  have 
only  a  part  of  the  task  to  do.  Bless  Him  that 
you  have  any  of  it,  whether  in  seedtime  or 
harvest,  whether  in  winter  or  spring.  Do  what 
He  gives  you  to  do,  and  pass  on  the  torch  and 
the  plough,  and  the  seed-basket  and  the  sickle, 
when  your  work  is  done ;  and  be  well  assured 
that  your  name,  as  one  of  His  workers,  when 
He  comes  back  to  pay  His  wages,  shall  be  found 
written  in  His  book  in  the  end  of  the  years. 
The  disaf-       Does  any  one  ask  if  Jesus  was  disappointed  ? 

point  incuts     TT  j     tt  tt 

of  Jesus.  He  was,  and  He  was  not.  He  was  so  occa- 
sionally, but  not  finally.  He  was  disappointed 
when  the  disciples  could  not  cast  out  the  demoniac 
child.  He  was  disappointed  when  they  under- 
stood not  the  miracle  of  the  loaves,  for  their 
heart  was  hardened.  He  was  disappointed, 
keenly  disappointed,  when  St.  Peter  tried  to 
dissuade  Him  from  His  cross.  He  was  dis- 
appointed when,  after  His  great  discourse  in  the 
synagogue  of  Capernaum,  many  of  His  disciples 
went  away  and  walked  no  more  with  Him.  He 
was  disappointed  because  Jerusalem  would  not 
let  Him  save  her,  and  showed  His  disappoint- 
ment in  a  flood  of  tears.  He  was  disappointed 
when  His  disciples  slept,  while  He  was  in  His 
agony.  But  He  was  not  disappointed  in  the 
work  of  His  life,  nor  in  the  results  of  His 
Passion.  Never  was  His  spirit  in  more  perfect 
and     joyous    peace     than    when    in    the    upper 


SORROW  221 

chamber  He  said  to  His  holy  Father,  "  I  have 
glorified  Thee  on  the  earth  ;  1  have  finished  the 
work  Thou  gavest  Me  to  do  ;  "  when  on  the 
cross  He  said,  as  He  died,  "  It  is  finished  ;" 
"  He  saw  the  travail  of  His  soul,  and  was  satis- 
fied." 


IV 

THE  CUP  OF  THE  LORD 

Can  ye  drink  of  the  cup  that  I  drink  of,   or  be  ye  baptized  with 
the  baptism  wherewith  I  am  baptized  .' — Mark  x.  38. 

TT  is  common  to  blame  these  two  disciples  for 
what  seems  like  selfishness,  and  even  ambi- 
tion, in  making  this  petition  to  the  Lord.  Cer- 
tainly the  displeasure  of  their  fellow-disciples, 
who  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  in  the  secret 
of  their  motive  more  than  we  can  be,  gives 
colour  to  such  censure.  It  is  also  easy  to  say 
that,  in  their  inevitable  ignorance  of  what  their 
Master's  cup  and  baptism  could  mean,  they  were 
somewhat  in  a  hurry  with  their  reply.  It  is, 
however,  to  be  observed  that  Christ,  Who  knew 
them  far  better  than  they  knew  themselves,  or 
than  their  fellows  knew  them,  did  not  reprove 
them  for  motives  which,  had  they  really  existed, 
would  have  drawn  from  Him  an  instant  rebuke. 
Their  petition  must  have  had  something  right  at 


222  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH     I  X I >   DUTY 

the  bottom  of  it.  They  wished  to  be  at  His 
right  hand  and  His  left  hand,  because  they  so 
dearly  loved  Him.  Part  of  their  petition  he 
granted,  part  He  deferred.  His  cup  they  should 
drink,  His  baptism  they  should  share.  But 
nearness  to  Him  in  His  kingdom  was  a  reward 
which  could  not  be  promised  until  the  lives  had 
been  accomplished  which  could  alone  decide  it. 
Every  man  shall  finally  receive  in  his  body  the 
things  he  hath  done,  whether  they  be  good  or 
bad.  Until  they  are  done,  the  balance  cannot  be 
struck,  nor  the  crown  fitted  to  the  brow. 

What  is  this  cup,  this  baptism  of  Jesus  ?  Is 
it  for  all  to  drink,  or  only  for  some  to  drink  ? 
What  shall  come  from  drinking  it  ?  How  is  it 
that  His  right  hand  and  left  hand,  in  glory, 
have  anything  to  do  with  partaking  of  His 
sorrow  ? 

There  are  these  three  elements  in  the  cup  and 
baptism  of  Jesus  which  give  it  its  supreme  and 
exemplary  value — loneliness,  and  martyrdom, 
and  sacrifice.  He  was  absolutely  alone.  Even 
the  disciple  whom  He  loved,  and  who  leant  on 
His  breast  at  supper,  was  not  in  perfect  sym- 
pathy with  Him.  He  was  seldom  understood 
by  those  who  loved  Him  best,  and  when  He  first 
disclosed  His  Passion,  the  temptation  was  sug- 
gested to  Him  by  an  apostle  to  put  it  away.  In 
His  last  discourse  He  observed,  with  touching 
pathos,  "  Ye  shall  leave  Me  alone,  yet  I  am  not 
alone,  because  the  Father  is  with   Me."     When 


SORROW  22} 

He  fell  into  the  hands  of  I  lis  enemies,  "  the3'  all 
forsook  llim  and  fled."  Of  all  the  thousands 
whom  He  had  led,  healed,  taught,  comforted 
during  His  earthly  ministry,  not  one  was  man 
enough  to  stand  by  Him  in  Pilate's  hall,  and 
to  say,  "  Crown  Him,"  when  the  mob  said, 
"Crucify  Him."  He  was  a  martyr.  lie  wit- 
nessed for  the  truth  by  His  life.  When  He 
could  no  longer  speak  for  it,  He  died  for  it. 
He  was  King  and  Leader  of  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs,  who,  fired  by  His  example,  in- 
spired by  His  love,  fortified  by  His  grace,  and 
saved  by  His  Passion,  loved  not  their  lives  unto 
the  death.  The  other  feature,  which  explains 
and  unites  all,  was  His  absolute  spirit  of  sacrifice. 
He  was  altogether  and  always  for  God.  "  Lo, 
I  come  to  do  Thy  will,  O  God,"  was  the  sentence 
with  which,  so  to  speak,  He  became  incarnate. 
"  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I  commend  My  spirit," 
was  the  closing  sentence  in  which  His  earthly 
life  was  ended.  He  never  thought  of  Himself, 
spoke  of  Himself,  acted  of  Himself.  "  I  can  of 
Mine  own  self  do  nothing  ;  as  I  hear  I  judge, 
and  My  judgment  is  just,  because  I  seek  not 
Mine  own  will,  but  the  will  of  the  Father  which 
hath  sent  Me." 

When  we  proceed  to  ask  if  this  cup  is  for  all  For -whom 
to   drink,    or    only   for    some    to   drink,   on    the  ^")'"/' 
threshold  of  so  solemn  a  question  these  things 
must    be    premised.      No    human    soul    can    be 
invited   or   permitted   or   enabled    to    share    the 


224  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Lord's  sufferings  in  the  sense  of  their  aton- 
ing or  satisfying  for  the  sins  of  men.  Only 
One  Spirit  has  been  bathed  with  the  tears  of  a 
redeeming  anguish.  There  is  only  one  Lamb 
of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world. 
This  premised,  we  reverently,  wonderingly  recall 
the  apostle's  prayer  that  he  might  know  the 
fellowship  of  the  Lord's  sufferings,  being  made 
conformable  unto  His  death  ;  and  we  attach  to  it 
a  cognate  and  significant  sentence  out  of  a  very 
profound  Epistle  written  probably  at  the  same 
time — "Who  can  rejoice  in  my  sufferings  for 
you,  and  fill  up  that  which  is  behind  of  the  suffer- 
ings of  Christ  in  my  flesh  for  His  body's  sake, 
which  is  the  Church."  We  also  observe  facts  ; 
and  it  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute  that  in  various 
ages  of  the  Church,  and  in  most  critical  epochs 
of  her  history,  there  have  been  royal  heroic  souls 
who  have  suffered  for  Christ,  whether  in  the  fire, 
or  in  the  arena,  with  bonds  and  imprisonment — 
souls  of  whom  the  world  was  not  worthy — 
kissing  their  chains  and  singing  hymns  of  joy  as 
the  cruel  flames  reached  their  limbs — saints,  of 
whom  St.  John  wrote:  "These  are  they  which 
came  out  of  great  tribulation,  and  have  washed 
their  robes  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb."  Still  further,  in  quiet  homes,  in 
days  of  peace  and  rest,  on  sick-beds,  with  duties 
foul,  squalid,  offensive,  and  unrequiting,  in  the 
wards  of  hospitals,  with  the  wounded  and  dying 
on  battle-fields,  with  tasks  commonplace  in  out- 


SORROW  225 

ward  garb,  uninviting-  and  even  perilous  in  actual 
experience,  for  Christ's  sake,  and  to  be  closer  to 
Mini,  and  to  be  ever  deeper  and  more  blessed  in 
the  fruition  of  Mis  love,  men  and  women  have  sur- 
rendered tender  hopes,  dropped  noble  enterprises, 
yielded  self  and  fortune  and  opportunities,  with- 
out a  thought  of  murmuring,  to  Mini  who  embraced 
the  cross  for  their  salvation,  and  for  Whom  a 
thousand  lives  would  be  but  a  poor,  meagre  ex- 
pression of  the  rapture  and  passion  of  their  love. 

Henry  Martyn  knew  something  of  his  Saviour's 
solitariness.  Xavier  died,  off  the  coast  of  China, 
of  fever,  with  his  real  work  but  just  begun. 
Savonarola,  heroic  among  heroes,  rejoiced  to  suffer 
shame  for  Mis  name.  Gordon  had  but  one  wish, 
to  deserve  to  see  His  face.  "  One  star  differeth 
from  another  star  in  glory."  Shall  we  grudge 
them  the  brightness  of  their  crown — envy  them 
the  tender  reverence  of  the  wondering  angels  ? 

Yes,  there  are  degrees  of  suffering  for  Christ,  Degrees  of 
and  He,  in  His  sovereign  government  of  His  m' 
Church,  mixes  the  cup  and  puts  it  to  our  lips,  by 
which  we  are  severally  to  glorify  Him.  Suffer- 
ing is  a  form  of  service,  and  a  very  noble  form, 
and  a  very  blessed  form.  For  sanctity  goes  with 
it  more  easily  than  with  the  activities  of  strength 
or  zeal.  Let  us  accept  humbly,  thankfully,  trust- 
fully whatever  He  sends  us,  in  whatever  shape, 
at  whatever  time.  We  arc  always  to  glorify 
Him ;  we  do  not  know  how  till  He  tells  us. 

There  arc  also  degrees  of  glory,  at   the  right 

p 


226  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

hand,  and  at  the  left  hand,  in  the  mighty  concourse 
of  beatified  souls.  We  shall  see  Him  according 
to  our  spiritual  eyesight,  and  our  capacity  of 
vision  will  depend  on  our  usefulness  and  our  holi- 
ness here.  Let  us  observe  further  that  before  we 
can  know  the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings — in 
other  words,  attain  to  conformity  with  His  death 
to  sin,  to  self,  to  the  world — we  must  first  have 
learnt  the  power  of  His  resurrection.  Being 
risen  with  Christ,  we  must  seek  those  things 
which  are  above,  where  Christ  sitteth  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  There  is  no  learning  to  suffer 
with  Him  but  through  sharing  His  risen  life. 
But  when  we  have  learned  the  fellowship  of  His 
sufferings,  even  in  a  degree,  we  think  no  more  of 
being  first  or  second,  on  the  right  hand  or  on  the 
left.  To  be  with  Him,  where  He  is,  that  is  all 
we  care  for.  To  be  with  Him  will  mean  to  be 
like  Him.      To  be  like  Him  is  Heaven. 

O  the  joy  to  see  Thee  reigning, 

Thee,  my  ozvn  beloved  Lord! 
Every  tongue  Thy  name  confessing, 
Worship,  honour,  glory,  blessing. 

Brought  to  Thee  with  one  accord. 
Thee,  my  Master  and  my  Friend, 

Vindicated  and  enthroned, 
Unto  earth's  remotest  end 

Glorified,  adored,  and  owned. 


SECRET    FAULTS 


There  is  a  kind  of  atheism  oj  which  churches  arc  in  peril. 

Rev.  R.  Dale. 


I 

SLOTHFULNESS 

Why  sleep  ye  f — Luke  xxii.  46. 

AMONG  the  manifold  infirmities  of  the 
Christian  life  none  is  more  specious,  more 
pervasive,  more  general  than  slothfulness.  More 
specious,  because  there  are  such  fine  names  by 
which  we  hide  it,  and  such  plausible  excuses 
with  which  we  defend  it  ;  more  pervasive,  because 
it  so  often  passes  out  of  one  department  of  our 
life's  activity  into  another,  and  at  last  sheds  the 
atmosphere  and  habits  of  a  lotus-eater  over  the 
entire  being  ;  more  general,  because  all  of  us  are 
idle  in  some  way  or  other  ;  and  c.ireful  obser- 
vation compels  the  admission  that  intellectual 
nimbleness  is  often  to  be  found  in  company  witli 
bodily  inertness.  No  sort  of  slothfulness  is 
tolerable  which  is  preventable  ;  the  world  and 
the  Church  need  every  man's  complete  powers 
put  into  their  full  use,  and  with  their  entire 
energy. 


230  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

As  hinted  already,  there  are  different  varieties 
Varieties  of  slothfulness.  The  pictures  of  sluggards 
ness,  drawn  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs,  and  the  incisive 

scorn  heaped  upon  them  there,  are  familiar  to 
all.  "Yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber,  a 
little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep."  "A  slothful 
man  hideth  his  hand  in  his  bosom,  and  will  not 
so  much  as  bring  it  to  his  mouth  again."  No 
doubt  there  may  be  detected  here  the  instinct 
of  a  statesman's  apprehension  of  loss  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  State  through  the  imperfect  dis- 
charge of  individual  duty.  Slothfulness  in  the 
discharge  of  the  daily  offices  of  life  is  not  with- 
out blame  before  God,  since  it  is  more  or  less 
the  hiding  of  a  talent  in  the  earth,  and  the  neg- 
lecting of  a  responsibility  with  which  God  has 
entrusted  us.  It  also  leaves  the  commonwealth 
poorer  through  the  lack  of  what  a  full  diligence 
might  have  supplied.  Almost  as  reprehensible 
in  its  way,  though  not  so  apparent  on  the  surface 
and  not  so  palpable  in  its  inevitable,  though 
may  be  distant,  results,  is  slothfulness  of  intellect. 
Through  this  it  comes  that  so  many  of  us  will 
not  be  at  the  pains  of  exerting  such  intellectual 
faculties  as  we  possess  for  careful  study,  patient 
weighing  of  arguments,  sustained  reflection,  and 
even  keen  analysis,  whether  for  ascertaining  a 
practical  duty,  or  solving  a  difficulty  which 
rightly  falls  to  us  to  master,  or  apprehending 
precious  truth.  Thinking  is  hard  work.  Balanc- 
ing  one    statement  against   another  and   coming 


SECRET  FAU1  FS  231 

finally,  and  perhaps  slowly,  to  an  actual  result 
about  them,  implies  painstaking  of  a  rare  kind. 
Many  never  open  a  book  except  to  while  away 
a  passing  hour.  There  are  not  too  many  English 
Bereans  who  search  the  Scriptures  for  them- 
selves to  find  out  the  mind  of  God.  It  is  not 
the  mere  listening  to  sermons,  i-t  is  the  comparing 
and  testing  them  by  the  word  of  God  that  at 
once  strengthens,  inspires,  and  illuminates  the 
understanding.  "  If  thou  seekest  Wisdom  as 
silver,  and  searchest  for  her  as  for  hid  treasures, 
then  shalt  thou  understand  the  fear  of  the  Lord 
and  find  the  knowledge  of  God." 

Akin  to  this  is  a  slothful  indifference  to  the 
growth  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  the  world  and  to 
the  hope  of  His  second  appearing  in  glory.  "  Let 
us  not  sleep  as  do  others,"  wrote  St.  Paul  to  the 
Roman  Church,  "  but  let  us  watch  and  be  sober." 
As  Bishop  Reichel  has  remarked,  "It  is  difficult 
to  read  the  New  Testament  attentively  without 
being  struck  with  the  difference  between  the 
feelings  of  the  first  Christians  and  our  own,  re- 
garding the  second  coming  of  our  Lord.  We 
hardly  ever  look  forward  to  it,  I  fancy  ;  with 
the  exception  of  a  few,  death  seems  to  be  our 
horizon.  The  first  Christians,  on  the  other  hand, 
appear  to  have  thought  very  little  about  death. 
All  such  considerations  were  absorbed  in  the 
expectation  of  that,  great  event  which  to  us  has 
all  but  vanished."  We  are  asleep  about  it,  the 
Church   and  the  world    alike  ;   and  we  ought  not 


232  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

to  be  asleep.  Last  of  all,  but  not  least,  there  is 
slothfulness  in  our  devotion.  We  give  but  little 
time  to  prayer,  considering  what  we  expect  from 
it  and  mean  by  it ;  and  of  that  little  how  much 
we  deliberately  waste  through  distraction  and 
inertness.  Praying,  like  thinking,  to  be  worth 
anything,  means  real  exertion.  "The  kingdom 
of  Heaven  is  taken  by  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force." 

How  can  we  account  for  this  slothfulness  ? 
To  account  for  it  is  to  go  half-way  towards 
remedying  it.  One  cause  of  it,  no  doubt,  is 
weakness  of  body.  When  the  fires  of  life  burn 
slowly  the  forces  of  life  move  feebly.  We  have 
our  treasure  in  earthen  vessels.  The  body  of 
our  humiliation  is,  within  certain  limits,  a  stand- 
ing and  an  incontrovertible  plea  on  behalf  of  a 
merciful  judgment  for  shortcomings  and  defi- 
ciencies of  duty  with  Him,  whose  hands  have 
made  and  fashioned  us,  and  Who  pities  as  well 
as  knows  the  creatures  He  has  made.  Sorrow 
is  another  reason  for  it,  which,  in  one  memor- 
able instance,  the  inspired  penman  has  adduced 
as  the  reason  why  the  apostles  slept,  instead 
of  watching  with  their  suffering  Lord.  "  When 
He  rose  up  from  prayer,  and  was  come  to  His 
disciples,  He  found  them  sleeping  for  sorrow." 
It  is  not,  however,  clear  that  He  altogether  ac- 
quitted them  of  blame  in  their  thus  sleeping.  To 
Peter  He  said,  "  Simon,  sleepest  thou  ?  Couldest 
not   thou  watch  one  hour  ?  "      Is  there  not  also 


SECRET  FAULTS  233 

a  delicate  undertone  of  almost  ironical  reproach 
in  I  lis  last  words,  when  the  lanterns  and  torches 
were  already  Hashing  in  the  near  distance — 
"  Sleep  on,  now,  and  take  your  rest  ;  it  is 
enough,  the  hour  is  come  ;  behold,  the  Son  of 
Man  is  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners." 

Another  cause  of  slothfulness,  obvious  enough, 
and,  alas !  common  enough,  on  which  it  can 
hardly  be  necessary  to  dwell  at  any  length,  is 
that  people  as  a  whole  never  exert  themselves 
for  objects  which  have  neither  interest  nor 
value  for  them  ;  and  if  they  do  not  care  for 
spiritual  truth,  they  are  not  likely  to  study  the 
one  book  which  professes  to  teach  it.  If  Christ 
is  not  real  to  them,  His  presence  will  have  no 
charm  or  power.  If  the  invisible  world  with 
its  penalties,  and  its  worship,  and  its  rewards, 
and  its  society,  is  either  an  attractive  myth  but 
not  an  actual  reality,  or  a  contingency  possible 
but  not  probable  enough  for  sensible  people  to 
make  it  a  real  factor  in  their  conduct  or  motives, 
of  course  they  will  not  trouble  themselves  to 
think  twice  about  it  ;  they  will  go  on  to  meet 
it,  and  it  will  be  awfully  and  quietly  waiting 
for  them,  and  when  it  is  too  late  they  will  find 
out  what  they  have  been  doing.  On  one  other 
cause,  however,  I.  will  for  a  moment  touch.  It 
is  suggested  by  the  brilliant  and  thoughtful 
divine  I  have  already  quoted — I  mean  hope- 
lessness. Men  aie  tempted  to  be  slothful  in 
duty,  because  they    are   doubtful    if  it    is  worth 


2;l4  "  ESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

while ;  or  in  philanthropic  efforts  for  others, 
because  they  never  seem  to  see  much  good 
resulting  from  it  ;  or  in  religious  investigation, 
because  there  is  so  much  to  be  said  on  both 
sides  that  prolonged  inquiry  produces  only  aug- 
mented irresolution ;  or  in  the  hope  of  the 
Lord's  coming,  for  they  have  waited  so  long 
and  to  so  little  purpose,  that  the  scoff  has  entered 
into  their  ears  and  benumbed  their  hearts. 
"  Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming  ?  "  The 
years  go  on,  and  no  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man 
appears  in  the  sky.  Not  only  do  the  foolish 
virgins  sleep,  but  the  wise  sleep  as  well.  They, 
too,  succumb  to  profound  exhaustion.  On  them 
the  bridegroom's  delay  has  a  sort  of  paralysing 
effect. 

The  baneful  result  of  slothfulness  as  a  whole 
is  self-evident.  The  individual  soul,  like  the 
garden  of  the  sluggard  in  the  Proverbs,  grows 
weeds  instead  of  fruit,  and  its  walls  are  broken 
down  for  all  who  will  to  enter.  The  growth 
in  divine  knowledge  is  checked,  and  the  mental 
forces  through  not  being  put  into  exercise  grow 
feeble  and  out  of  hand.  Idleness  is  catching. 
The  tone  and  atmosphere  of  the  Church's  life 
are  demoralised  by  the  listless  indifference  of 
her  professed  children.  Christ  is  put  aside  and 
slighted,  if  not  resisted  and  wounded,  in  the 
house  of  His  friends.  The  entire  body  suffers 
loss  through  the  decay  or  inactivity  of  the  least 
of  its   members.      It  is  only  when  compacted  by 


SECRET  FAULTS  255 

that   which   every  joint  supplicth    that    it   makes 
increase  of  itself  in  love. 

Three  concluding  thoughts  may  complete  and 
rivet  this  subject.  Slothfulness  is  in  truth  a 
base,  a  humiliating  thing,  of  whatever  sort  it 
be,  in  whomsoever  it  happens  to  manifest  itself. 
The  Bible  is  full  of  warning  against  it.  While 
we  will  not  discourage  quietness,  patience,  sober- 
ness, humility — they  are  the  essential  virtues 
— we  must,  in  our  Lord's  words,  work  while  it 
is  called  to-day  ;  "  the  night  cometh,  when  no 
man  can  work."  Then  let  us  think  of  the  love 
of  Christ ;  what  we  owe  to  it,  what  it  claims 
from  us.  "  Herein  is  My  Father  glorified,  that 
ye  bear  much  fruit  ;  so  shall  ye  be  My  disciples." 
Once  more,  when  He  comes  in  His  glory,  and 
all  the  holy  angels  with  Him,  what  shall  we 
have  to  show  Him,  out  of  all  the  good  works 
which  He  before  ordained  for  us  to  walk  in,  and 
all  of  which  were  possible  ?  No  one,  I  suppose, 
will  have  done  all  ;  a  few  will  have  done  many. 
The  question  is,  What  shall  we  have  done  ? 


236  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

II 

CENSOR!  O  USNESS 

But  why  dost  thou  judge  thy  brother  ? — ROMANS  xiv.   10. 

A  CORRECT  answer  to  this  question,  and 
there  is  a  correct  answer,  will  help  us  to 
define  and  to  avoid  the  too  common  fault  of 
censoriousness.  For  not  every  censure  is  "  cen- 
sorious," and  sometimes  not  to  judge  our  brother 
is  a  graver  defect  of  duty  than  to  judge  him  un- 
justly. We  must  weigh  and  consider  the  simple 
fact  that  God  has  deliberately  planted  in  every 
human  breast  at  least  the  germ  and  beginning  of 
a  sense  of  right  and  wrong,  which  if  it  has  any 
vitality  must  result  in  some  kind  of  moral  standard 
intended  to  be  used  and  is  being  used.  Then 
the  circumstance  that  in  a  civilised  society — 
we  might  almost  add,  in  uncivilised  also — the 
most  potent  and  irresistible,  and  tremendous 
and  continuous  factor  is  public  opinion — in  other 
words,  the  aggregate  result  of  these  multitudinous 
moral  tribunals  acting  and  deciding  together 
points  equally  in  the  direction  of  the  inquiry,  not 
how  we  may  forbid  and  extinguish  this  faculty  of 
judging  as  altogether  displeasing  to  God  and 
cruel  to  men,  but  how  we  may  differentiate  the 
right  and  justifiable  use  of  it  from  the  wrong  and 


SECRET  FAULTS  237 

unjustifiable,  and  thereby  ascertain  how  we 
should  limit  and  regulate  and  explain  the  right 
and  justifiable  use  of  it  without  breach  of  charity 
or  taint  of  Pharisaism.  Why  are  we  so  eager  to 
judge  each  other,  usually,  alas  !  with  a  certain 
harshness  ;  and  why  do  we  need  warning  and 
restraining  in  judging  each  other  at  all  ? 

Undoubtedly  most  persons  are  in  haste  to  Mo 
judge  their  neighbours,  not  so  much  from  any 
intrinsic  hatred  of  evil  or  zeal  for  good,  as  be- 
cause it  gives  them  a  sense  of  importance  to  pro- 
nounce a  verdict  which  possibly  may  be  in  itself 
supremely  worthless  and  only  deserve  to  be  treated 
by  the  supposed  offender  with  contempt.  A  love 
of  power  goes  with  it  which  feeds  vanity,  and  is 
gratifying  to  puny  souls.  Another  reason  is  that 
it  feeds  self-esteem,  and  appears  to  condone  for 
our  own  frailties  if  we  can  pick  a  hole  in  the  fair 
garment  of  our  neighbour's  character,  which, 
only  it  may  be  through  absence  of  any  predis- 
position in  ourselves  to  committing  a  like  fault, 
he  would  be  unable  to  pick  in  ours.  There  is 
often  a  curious  and  utterly  contemptible  feeling, 
that  to  drag  down  a  better  man  than  ourselves  to 
our  own  level — and  there  is  no  easier  or  cheaper 
way  of  doing  it  than  by  sitting  in  severe  judg- 
ment upon  him — is  a  sure  method  of  raising  our- 
selves to  his,  the  fact  being  that  he  remains  as 
much  above  us  as  he  ever  was,  and  we  descend 
a  little  lower.  Another  reason — this  shall  be  the 
last — is  that  v.  c  really  think  ourselves  virtuous  in 


2j8  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

either  beginning  or  swelling  a  chorus  of  indignant 
criticism  on  some  supposed  delinquency  which 
shocks  what  we  call  our  moral  instincts.  The 
fact  is  that  such  cheap  virtue  is  often  in  the  sight 
of  God  far  less  acceptable  than  the  penitent  con- 
fession of  even  a  grievous  offender.  Real  good- 
ness appreciates  the  difficulty  of  resisting  evil,  and 
the  righteousness  which  cares  more  for  condemn- 
ing than  forgiving  is  lacking  in  that  divine  and 
essential  charity  which  is  the  mind  of  Christ. 

There  are  cases  in  which,  while  some  are  called 
to  pass  judgment  about  them,  we  are  not  so 
called,  and  it  is  unnecessary  for  us  to  consider 
them  at  all.  We  have  neither  leisure  nor  re- 
sponsibility for  weighing  in  the  scales  of  our  per- 
sonal moral  judgment  everything  that  happens; 
and  what  is  not  our  business  we  had  best  leave 
to  those  whose  business  it  is.  This  is  possibly 
what  our  Lord  had  in  view  when  He  said, 
"  Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged."  He  pro- 
bably had  in  mind  the  mischievous  habit  of  judg- 
ing and  condemning  actions  or  persons  with 
which  we  have  no  concern,  just  from  a  feeling 
of  moral  fussiness  and  a  fondness  of  interference 
in  other  men's  matters.  In  such  a  case  our 
Lord  practically  says,  "  Leave  the  matter  alone 
and  attend  to  your  own  affairs.  If  you  do  not, 
you  must  be  prepared  to  expect  that  the  world 
which  you  go  out  of  the  way  to  censure  will  pay 
you  back  in  your  own  coin.  When  you  writhe 
under  the  lacerating  tongues  of  ill-natured  and 


SECRET  FAULTS  239 

meddlesome  people,  you  have  only  yourselves  to 
thank  for  it,  in  setting  an  example  which  others 
have  been  only  eager  to  follow." 

Again,  there  arc  cases  in  which  words  or  Judgment 
actions  do  concern  us,  and  we  have  no  right  to  a 
ignore  or  pass  them  by.  They  touch  us  so 
closely  that  not  to  judge  them  would  be  an  injury 
to  society  and  an  offence  against  God.  But  let 
us  be  careful  how  we  judge.  Let  us  take  pains 
to  hear  what  is  said  on  both  sides,  and  not  to 
arrive  at  our  decision  until  there  has  been  ample 
time  to  mature  a  sound  conclusion.  Very  many 
people  do  not  wish  to  be  merciful,  or  to  have 
reasons  given  them  why  they  should  be.  "  Ad 
lcones"  was  of  old  the  passionate  cry  of  pagan 
against  Christian.  Now  it  is  too  often  the 
thoughtless  exclamation  of  Christians  against 
each  other.  Another  rule  to  be  borne  in  mind 
is  this — that  while  we  may  be  in  possession 
of  all  that  goes  against  the  accused  person, 
we  may  not  be  acquainted  with  all  that  goes  in 
his  favour,  whether  in  the  way  of  extenuating 
or  of  explaining,  or  even  of  defending  his  con- 
duct. If  we  knew  all,  as  God  knows  it,  how 
often  we  should  be  much  more  merciful  in  our 
criticisms  and  judgments  !  It  must  always  be 
right  to  bear  in  mind  that  while  there  must  be 
no  false  kindness,  no  misplaced  or  spurious 
charity,  no  feeble  hanging  back  from  exacting 
righteous  penalties,  no  unmanly  softness  which 
postpones  the  interests    of   society  to  the  private 


240  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

feelings  of  an  individual,  there  is  no  need  for  us 
to  go  beyond  what  is  absolutely  necessary  in 
the  sternness  of  our  judgment.  We  punish,  not 
out  of  revenge,  but  partly  to  deter  and  partly  to 
reform.  St.  Paul  has  admonished  us  that  we 
are  to  look  forward  as  well  as  to  look  back  in 
our  administration  of  discipline.  If  any  one  be 
overtaken  in  a  fault,  we  are  to  restore  such  a 
one  in  a  spirit  of  meekness,  considering  ourselves 
lest  we  also  be  tempted.  We  are  (in  such 
matters)  to  bear  one  another's  burdens,  and  so 
to  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ. 

One  other  observation  must  be  added  here, 
pertinent  to  the  whole  subject.  It  may  be  in- 
evitable, and  also  becoming,  that  we  pass  judg- 
ment in  the  secret  place  of  our  conscience  on 
acts  and  persons  which  come  under  our  review. 
It  does  not  by  any  means  follow  from  that  as  a 
matter  of  course  that  it  is  either  incumbent  on 
us  or  right  for  us  to  express  that  judgment 
either  in  words  or  in  writing  for  the  information 
of  others.  Yet  to  some  people,  without  doubt,  the 
chief  satisfaction  in  forming  a  judgment,  notably 
if  it  be  an  unfavourable  one,  is  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  to  communicate  it  to  some 
one  else.  If  it  be  our  duty  to  make  it  known  to 
others,  let  the  terms  in  which  we  express  it  be 
guarded,  moderate,  and  with  as  little  as  possible 
of  the  knife  in  them.  To  be  found  guilty  is,  to 
a  sensitive  and  good  though  erring  nature,  often 
punishment  enough  in  itself.      Also,  there  is   no 


/>/•:/   FAULTS  241 

need  why  we  should  put  a  trumpet  to  our  lips 
and  announce  to  all  the  world,  not  always  too 
anxious  to  know  our  mind  nor  too  careful  to 
remember  it,  what  it  is  we  have  to  say. 

So  far  we  have  considered  censoriousness  as 
a  fault  of  which  we  ourselves  may  from  time  to 
time  be  guilty.  Let  me  add  a  word  of  counsel  Counsel 
and  encouragement  for  those  who,  whether  with^"lA" 
or  without  fault  of  their  own,  will  occasionally 
be  the  victims.  The  Psalmist  is  not  the  only 
person  in  the  world  who  has  suffered  from  "  the 
strife  of  tongues."  While  the  happiest  condi- 
tion is  that  of  ignorance  of  what  others  unkindly 
or  thoughtlessly  say  of  us,  usually  there  are 
people  enough  who,  either  out  of  an  odd  con- 
sideration of  what  friendship  demands  or  a  spite- 
ful impulse  of  what  envy  suggests,  protect  us 
from  living  in  a  fool's  paradise  by  sending  us 
bad  news  of  ourselves,  as  a  kind  of  duty,  in  a 
letter  with  no  name  to  it.  If  we  are  very  wise, 
we  shall  not  treat  such  communications  as  some 
undoubtedly  strong-minded  people  do,  throw 
them  into  the  fire  unread,  when  we  find  no  sig- 
nature to  them  ;  nor,  in  the  opposite  extreme, 
fret  and  trouble  ourselves  about  them,  as  if  such 
criticisms  deserved  more  than  a  mere  passing 
notice,  to  be  glanced  at,  considered,  and  then 
forgotten.  Archbishop  Tait,  as  his  biographers 
inform  us,  always  read  such  letters  for  the  in- 
formation or  advantage  that  might  be  derived 
from  them.      Undoubtedly  they  come  in  the  pre- 


242  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

vidence  of  God,  just  as  hornets  and  centipedes 
come,  with  some  function  to  fulfil.  Those  who 
watch  such  things,  and  love  to  trace  the  divine 
purpose  in  everything,  will  occasionally  notice 
that  they  are  apt  to  come  in  moments  of  personal 
elation  when  the  bladder  of  self-love  is  blowing 
itself  a  little  too  full,  or  when  the  kindness  of 
friends  and  the  sunshine  of  some  unlooked-for 
prosperity  need  the  counteracting  monition  that 
we  should  walk  humbly  with  God. 

St.  Paul  wrote  to  the  Corinthians  that  it  was  a 
very  small  thing  with  him  to  be  judged  of  man. 
God  was  his  judge.  "  He  that  judgeth  me  is  the 
Lord.  Therefore  judge  nothing  before  the  time 
until  the  Lord  come  ....  and  then  shall  every 
man  have  praise  of  God." 

When  we  are  censured,  justly  or  unjustly,  no 
matter  how  or  by  whom,  there  is  a  rule  we 
should  follow,  a  baseness  we  should  avoid,  and 
a  gain  we  should  ensure.  The  rule  is  to  take 
it  instantly  to  God  and  ask  Him  to  tell  us  His 
mind  about  it  in  His  own  tender,  wise,  and  truth- 
ful way.  This  will  take  the  poison  out  of  the 
wound  and  the  resentment  out  of  the  nature. 
The  baseness  is  to  go  to  the  world  and  whimper 
about  it.  Such  things  a  really  strong  man,  in 
the  reserve  ever  indicative  of  a  manly  nature, 
will  usually  keep  to  himself,  and  not  consent  to 
share  with  wife  or  friend  or  child.  The  gain 
is,  even  from  the  exaggerated  censure  to  gather 
the  wholesome   reproof,  and   to  learn  better  how 


SECRET  /•'  WLTS 


243 


to  breathe  the  saint's  prayer,   "  Nearer,  my  God, 
to  Thee  ;   nearer  to  Thee." 


Ill 
PUSILLANIMITY 

0  thou  of  Utile  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt   ' 

Matthew  xiv.  31. 

TTIERE  are  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men 
in  the  world,  with  every  possible  variety  of 
bigness  in  body  and  character  and  understand- 
ing. This  is  meant  to  be  so,  and  within  certain 
limits  we  shall  not  be  held  responsible  because  we 
are  not  so  big,  or  so  strong,  or  so  clever  as  our 
neighbours.  Nevertheless,  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  smallness  of  heart  and  mind,  which  goes  b}r 
the  Latin  word  pusillanimity,  a  meanness  of  soul, 
which  is  preventable  and  remediable,  which  chills 
enterprise,  depresses  courage,  invents  difficulties, 
and  empties  pails  of  water  on  the  fires  of  zeal. 
Few  of  us  are  quite  free  from  it.  It  is  quite 
distinct  from  the  shrewdness  which  hesitates, 
from  the  prudence  which  balances,  and  from  the 
sagacity  which  divines.  It  may  be  well  to  look 
into  some  of  the  varieties  of  it,  and  then  to 
explain  how  it  can  best  be  remedied. 

First,  this  meanness  of  spirit  is  quick  to  show 


244  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

itself  in  questioning  the  necessity  or  advantage  of 
some  philanthropic  or  Christian  enterprise  that 
may  be  brought  under  our  notice,  as  well  as  in 
proving  the  absolute  impossibility  of  accomplishing 
it,  whether  needed  or  not.  Such  persons  are  like 
the  disciples  who,  when  Christ  pitied  the  hungry 
multitudes,  querulously  objected  that  the  wilder- 
ness was  not  the  place  in  which  to  buy  bread. 

These  good  people  would  never  have  started 
the  Church  Missionary  Society,  though  they 
gladly  help  it  now  that  it  is  started  ;  and  they 
would  not  have  much  encouraged  William  Wilber- 
force  in  suppressing  the  slave  trade. 

Another  variety  is  shown  in  a  carping  and 
ungenerous  and  illiberal  treatment  of  those  who 
differ  from  them  in  important  particulars,  such 
as  those  of  Church  government  and  ritual,  while 
substantially  one  with  them  in  the  faith  of  the 
creeds  and  in  zeal  for  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
Eccentricity  of  method,  even  though  compen- 
sated by  work  which  they  could  not  do  them- 
selves and  which  few  other  people  could  do, 
frightens  them  out  of  their  wits,  as  well  as  out 
of  their  charity.  For  divergence  of  doctrine 
from  their  own  standards  they  have  neither 
justice  nor  mercy,  while  they  are  unable  to 
explain  what  voice  from  Heaven  justifies  them 
in  assuming  that  they  are  always  in  the  right 
and  their  neighbours  always  in  the  wrong. 

No  doubt   such   persons   have  their  value   in 
maintaining  the  balance  of  opinion   and   in   pro- 


SECRET  FAULTS  245 

tecting  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  The  point 
is  whether  they  would  not  effect  these  two 
objects  much  more  completely,  and  with  far  less 
friction,  if  they  were  less  careful  to  magnify  the 
mote  in  their  brother's  eye,  and  to  observe  the 
beam  in  their  own. 

Another  variety  is  to  be  found  in  the  use  and 
giving  of  money  and  of  other  material  resources 
for  the  grand  and  ever-expanding  activities  of  the 
Church  and  the  world.  There  arc  many  people 
amply  able  to  do  it  without  any  diminution  of 
their  personal  comforts  or  any  sort  of  injustice  to 
their  own  families,  who,  if  you  quietly  asked 
them  to  give  a  hundred  or  a  thousand  pounds  to 
some  great  cause  worthy  to  stir  them  into  joy, 
would  be  startled  into  a  kind  of  fit.  Such 
people  want  windows  opening  into  their  souls. 
They  need  to  learn  as  they  have  never  learnt 
yet,  what  they  owe  to  Christ  and  to  the  souls  for 
which  Christ  died. 

They  have  to  be  taught  the  sweetest  as  well 
as  the  noblest  of  all  joys — the  joy  of  giving 
away.  If  rich  Christian  people  would  learn  to 
give  as  poor  Christian  people  give,  if  English 
Churchmen  would  emulate  their  Wesleyan  and 
Presbyterian  brethren  in  the  proportion  of  their 
systematic  contributions  to  home  and  foreign 
Church  objects,  a  quick  harvest  would  be  reaped 
for  God. 

One  more  variety  of  this  small-mindedness  is 
to  be  found   in   the  cold   though   intelligible  sus- 


246  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

piciousness  with  which   many  sincere   believers, 
who     have     never    inquired,    studied,    or    even 
doubted  about  the  graver  difficulties  of  Christian 
belief,  regard   those  pioneers  of  truth  who  give 
their  lives  to  what  they  feel  to   be   the  noblest 
cause   on   which   their  years   can    be   spent,  the 
criticism  and  interpretation  of  the  Bible.      There 
can    be    no    doubt    whatever   that   we    are    now 
passing   through   a   transition  period  of  supreme 
importance.      The  text,  the  antiquity,  the  author- 
ship, the  mutual  relations  of  the  divine  books  are 
being  rigorously  examined  by  a  body  of  scholars 
whose  competence  for  their  task  is  in  many  cases 
elevated   and   transfigured    by  the   beautiful  joy 
with  which  they  give  themselves  to  it  as  a  labour 
of  love,  and  whose  absolute  intrepidity  in  com- 
municating the  result  of  their  inquiry  is,  at  least 
in   some   cases,  equalled   only   by  the   reverence 
and   devoutness   of  their  minds.      We   have   al- 
ready profited   by  them,  though    not   always   in 
the  way  that   we  expected   or  desired  ;  and  we 
shall   profit   more  if  we  can    use   their  weapons 
and   meet   their  criticism  with  adequate  scholar- 
ship   of   our    own.      Times    and    circumstances 
differ.      There  will  often  be  a  fair  occasion  for  a 
stand-up   honest   fight,  in  which   may  truth   pre- 
vail !      But    if  our  objection  to  such    researches 
springs    simply    from    the    fact    of   their    being 
seriously  at  variance  with  our  own  opinions,  and 
we  dislike   them   not   because  we  can  prove  that 
they  are  wrong  but  because  they  compel  us  to  be 


SECRET  FAULTS  247 

at  the  pains  oi'  modifying  our  present  opinions, 
opposition  becomes  irrational  and  without  mean- 
ing, and  thereby  we  may  be  found  righting  even 
against  God. 

The  last  variety  of  this  small-mindedness  is  in 
the  lack  of  hope,  courage,  and  resolution  with 
which  even  Christian  men  watch  and  share  and 
push  the  great  conflict  ever  going  on  in  the  world 
between  good  and  evil.  If  St.  Paul  is  right  in 
saying  "  we  arc  saved  by  hope,"  the  inference 
is  just  that  we  are  lost  for  want  of  it.  The 
Church  is  on  the  winning  side,  because  Christ 
is  her  head  and  victory  is  promised  in  the  end. 
Self-confidence  is  one  thing,  trusting  God  is 
another.  "  Fear  not,  but  let  your  hands  be 
strong." 

Let  us  now  briefly  consider  in  what  sense  and 
by  what  means  we  may  deepen  and  stir  Christian 
manhood  in  our  hearts,  and  how,  instead  of 
going  among  our  fellows  with  the  depressing 
atmosphere  and  demeanour  of  a  Scotch  mist,  we 
may  act  and  speak  as  those  who  can  say  the 
joy  of  the  Lord  is  their  strength.  First  of  all, 
we  want  more  faith.  Faith  creates  joy,  stimu-  joy. 
lates  effort,  inspires  courage,  laughs  at  the  thought 
of  failure.  As  to  the  Bible,  it  says,  "The  Scrip- 
ture cannot  be  broken."  As  to  the  Church,  it 
remembers  the  promise,  "  The  gates  of  hell  shall 
not  prevail  against  it."  As  to  error  and  schism 
and  wickedness  and  unbelief,  it  notes  the  promise, 
"  When  the  enemy  shall  come  in  like  a  flood  the 


248  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against 
him."  Let  our  prayer  be,  "  Lord,  increase  our 
faith  ;"  and  our  answer  shall  be,  "  According  to 
your  faith  shall  it  be  done  unto  you." 

Another  way  of  enlarging  our  hearts  and 
minds  is  to  put  ourselves  in  company  with  great 
and  noble  spirits  of  all  times,  who  have  turned 
the  world  upside  down  by  their  preaching  and 
their  goodness,  and  who  fire  our  hearts  with  the 
wish  to  be  like  them.  If  a  man  is  known  by 
the  company  he  keeps,  he  is  also  continually  in- 
fluenced by  it,  whether  for  better  or  for  worse. 
We  should  read  history,  which  more  than  any- 
thing prevents  despair.  We  should  read  bio- 
graphy, especially  of  such  men  as  Livingstone  and 
Steere  and  Patteson  and  Hannington.  Nothing 
also  more  helps  to  stir  blood  in  the  soul  than 
occasional  attendance  at  a  well-arranged  mis- 
sionary meeting,  where  the  simple  but  fervent 
enthusiasm  of  the  hearers  creates  an  atmosphere 
as  near  that  of  Heaven  as  anything  we  are  ever 
likely  to  breathe  on  earth,  and  where  the  narra- 
tives of  the  missionaries,  fresh  from  the  battle- 
field, vividly  recall  the  first  missionary  meetings 
of  the  apostolic  times.  But  the  best  way  of 
all,  though  perhaps  the  hardest,  is  to  be  alone 
with  God,  and  there  think  out  upon  our  knees 
the  vast  purposes  of  His  redeeming  love  and  the 
inexhaustible  resources  purchased  by  the  blood 
of  His  Son.  Thus,  and  there  only,  will  the  will 
unbend,  the    mind    open    itself,   the   heart   thaw, 


SECRE1   FAULTS  249 

the  imagination  burn  and  thrill  at  the  final  pros- 
pect of  the  salvation  of  humanity,  and  the  final 
victory  over  evil,  when  the  kingdoms  of  this 
world  shall  have  become  the  kingdoms  of  our 
God  and  His  Christ,  and  He  shall  reign  for  ever 
and  ever.  To  have  but  a  little  share  in  helping 
this  on,  to  break  even  one  vase  of  ointment  at 
the  King's  feet,  just  to  show  how  we  love  Him,  to 
swell  the  chorus  of  the  new  song  which  only  the 
redeemed  can  sing,  to  deserve  to  recognise  among 
the  ranks  of  the  great  multitude  which  no  man 
can  number  radiant  spirits  which  we  helped  to 
join  them — all  this  is  surely  worth  tears  and 
watchings  and  money  and  disappointment  and 
sacrifice  for  the  welcome  of  Jesus  and  the  vision 
of  God. 


IV 
INCONSISTENCY 

Doth  a  fountain  send  forth  at  the  same  place  szveet  water 
and  bitter  f— James  iii.  ex. 

'"PHE  opportunity  that  is  seldom  prized,  the 
faculty  that  should  be  sedulously  cultivated, 
the  talent,  for  which  there  is  an  untold  responsi- 
bility, the  gift,  which,  at  its  best,  is  born  with  us, 
and  owes  so  much  to  practice  and  observation  and 
earnestness    of    spirit,    is    that   of    conversation. 


250  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Conversa-  Our  Lord,  in  anticipation  of  the  final  judgment, 
tells  us  that  by  our  words  we  shall  be  justified, 
and  by  our  words  we  shall  be  condemned.  St. 
Paul,  in  his  practical  way,  while  he  cautions  us 
against  the  commonplaces  of  a  speech  which  is 
to  be  seasoned  with  salt,  recognises  it  as  an  im- 
portant instrument  for  defending  and  expounding 
the  faith.  "  That  ye  may  know  how  to  answer 
every  man."  St.  James  lays  stress  on  the  power 
of  the  tongue,  for  harm  as  well  as  for  good,  and 
impresses  on  us  that  the  most  grievous  and 
unnatural  of  all  inconsistencies  is  a  Christian 
misuse  of  speech.  The  subject  is  large  enough 
for  a  big  volume  to  itself.  Let  me  now  simply 
try  to  show  what  infirmities  in  the  exercise  of 
this  great  talent  mar  our  own  character,  act  as 
stumbling-blocks  to  others,  and  grieve  the  spirit 
of  Christ. 

First  of  all — and  this  remark  holds  good  of 
course  of  all  people,  and  not  only  of  those  who 
desire  and  profess  to  live  as  disciples  of  Christ 
— the  familiar  topics  of  ordinary  conversation, 
even  when  not  directly  harmful,  are  sadly  lacking 
in  dignity  and  interest  and  value.  What  most 
people  like  to  talk  about  is  each  other  ;  but  this 
is  exactly  the  topic  that  is  so  full  of  peril  and  so 
empty  of  good.  If  we  talked  of  things  instead 
of  persons  and  pleasantly  discussed  daily  events, 
art  and  books,  and  especially  politics,  which 
need  not  be  fought  over  in  a  bitter  and  contro- 
versial   spirit,    but   which    ought    to    be    full    of 


>/.(  RET  FAULTS  251 

interest  to  those  who  love  their  country,  in  the 
place  of  clothes  and  entertainments  and  novels, 
our  daily  life  would  be  education  instead  of  dis- 
sipation ;  and  we  should  insensibly  acquire  what 
Lord  Beaconsfield  described  as  the  highest  wisdom 
in  the  best  way — not  from  books,  but  from  the 
lips  of  men.  I  know  that  we  don't  want  pedants 
or  coxcombs,  to  air  their  own  accomplishments 
at  our  expense  ;  or  intellectual  prigs,  who  like 
t<>  dwarf  others  by  exalting  themselves.  But 
conversation  is  becoming  a  lost  art.  It  is  very 
much  to  be  doubted  if  there  is  to  be  found  any- 
where in  Europe,  except  in  a  handful  of  choice 
houses  in  the  great  capitals,  anything  to  approach 
the  salons  of  Paris  in  the  latter  half  of  the 
eighteenth  century  for  graceful  badinage,  accurate 
erudition,  or  grand  courtesy.  A  good  talker, 
whose  sayings  we  write  down  in  our  journals 
when  we  get  home,  is  a  rare  possession.  Why 
arc  not  there  more  ? 

Fellowship  with  brother  Christians  on  the 
great  blessed  realities  which  we  hold  and  love  in 
common,  if  wisely  arranged  and  safeguarded 
with  wise  restrictions,  may  become  a  real  means 
of  grace.  It  may  mean  a  handful  of  friends 
meeting  together  over  their  Bibles,  in  hope  of 
also  meeting  their  Lord.  It  may  also  be  con- 
fined to  the  intercourse  of  two  individual  souls. 
It  is  not  to  be  forced  ;  and  if  artificial  and  self- 
displaying,  it  becomes  hurtful,  and  when  unreal 
acts  like  a  moral  poison.     It  is  more  than  doubtful 


252  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

if  we  use  it  as  much  as  we  ought  to  use  it. 
At  such  moments  which  bring  into  the  horizon 
of  our  own  experience  the  walk  to  Emmaus,  a 
third  sometimes  joins  us ;  and  though  presently 
He  disappears,  the  recollection  beatifies  our 
life. 

Conversation  in  mixed  society  is  by  no  means 
an  easy  art,  if  we  would  do  a  little  good, 
without  doing  much  more  harm.  As  a  rule  it 
should  be  in  the  first  instance  indirectly  helpful, 
aiming  at  raising  the  tone  of  the  general  talk, 
and  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  attract  notice 
to  some  event  or  person  which  leads  to  important 
inferences.  Expressions  of  an  unctuous  or  highly 
spiritual  character  are  best  avoided.  They  raise 
prejudice,  stir  disdain,  and  even  provoke  alarm. 
Religious  phraseology  has  sometimes  a  hollow 
ring  about  it  ;  and  if  we  want  men  to  listen  to 
us,  it  must  be  by  persuasion,  not  rebuke.  It  has 
more  than  once  been  observed  that  when  some 
profane  expression  or  jest  of  dubious  taste  has 
been  uttered  before  one  whose  character  or  pro- 
fession must  make  such  allusions  intensely  pain- 
ful, quite  the  best  way  of  rebuking,  and  also 
preventing  it  hereafter,  is  silence.  There  is  a 
great  power  in  silence,  and,  be  it  added,  a  real 
courage  also  ;  and  it  conveys  its  message  more 
rapidly  and  more  permanently  than  words. 

The  infirmities  to  be  shunned  in  our  daily 
talk,  the  dead  flies  in  the  apothecary's  ointment, 
are  on  the  surface.     We  all  know  them.     Loqua- 


SECRE1   FAULTS  153 

city  has  great  danger  with  it  and  an  inevitable 
loss  of  influence.  We  remember  what  the  wise 
man  says  about  the  multitude  of  words.  Few 
things  arc  more  irritating  or  fatiguing  when  we 
are  compelled  to  listen  to  them.  It  is  true  that 
for  a  considerable  portion  of  civilised  society 
what  may  be  not  disrespectfully  described  as 
purring  is  the  chief  solace  and  the  one  occupa- 
tion. Well,  if  it  is  a  kindly  purring,  and  there 
are  no  claws  going  with  it,  we  need  not  be  too 
hard  upon  it.  But  we  should  respect  those  who 
only  speak  when  they  have  something  worth 
saying ;  and  we  do  not  confide  our  troubles  to 
sieves.  Exaggeration — the  offspring  of  vanity 
— is  a  habit  to  be  constantly  checked.  It  soon 
grows  into  a  habit  of  untruthfulness.  Picking- 
holes  in  our  neighbours  is  a  sin  ;  we  should 
resist  it  to  the  uttermost.  Prebendary  Eyton 
has  written  of  the  man  who  has  no  eye  for  a 
great  cause  or  a  great  work,  but  a  good  eye  for 
a  blot.  This  is  a  character  not  unfamiliar  to 
modern  society;  may  we  never  deserve  to  have  it 
said  of  us ! 

In  conclusion,  there  are  four  great  moral 
qualities  which  we  should  aim  at  if  we  would 
serve  God  with  our  words  day  and  night, 
naturally,  easily,  successfully,  and  almost  without 
knowing  it.  Let  there  be  reserve  in  our  talk. 
A  nature  that  has  no  reserve  has  no  dignity. 
Let  us  have  tact,  not  only  of  breeding,  but,  which 
is  much  higher  and   better,  of  nature.      Also   let 


254  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

us  be  brave,  gently,  quietly  brave  ;  saying  what 
we  think  wants  to  be  said,  and  all  of  it,  but  with 
a  modest  diffidence,  and  an  evident  desire  to 
learn  as  well  as  to  teach.  Then  society  will  be 
better  for  us  and  we  for  society.  We  shall  be 
fulfilling  the  idea  of  Jesus  in  being  the  salt  of  the 
earth. 


SERVICE 


The  substance  of  the  Church's  work  is  doing  good. 

Archbishop  Benson. 


USEFL  LNESS 

/.*  a  candle  brought  to  be  put  under  a  bushel,  or  under  a  bed, 
and  not  to  be  set  on  a  candlestick  .' — MARK  iv.  21. 

THE  duty  which  no  one  can  disclaim,  the 
test  which  no  one  may  evade,  and  the 
praise  which  no  one  will  despise,  are  all  included 
in  the  homely  word  of  usefulness.  Who  will  say 
that  it  is  not  his  duty  to  be  useful  ?  Who  will 
pretend  that  he  cannot  be  useful  if  only  he  cares 
to  be  ?  Who  will  deny  that,  after  all,  the  most 
equitable  verdict  on  a  man's  life,  when  it  is  done, 
will  be  passed  on  the  amount  of  usefulness  that 
can  be  discovered  in  it  ?  We  admire  a  man's 
brilliancy,  or  we  envy  his  capacity,  or  we  listen 
to  his  eloquence  ;  but  a  man  may  be  brilliant 
and  capable  and  eloquent,  and  yet  the  world  may 
not  be  much  the  better  fur  him,  possibly  even 
the  worse.  But  to  say  that  a  man  is  useful  —  in 
other  words,  that  he  has  served  God  and  his 
generation  with  such  gifts  as  were  at  his  disposal, 

R 


inevitable. 


258  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

and  earned,  when  he  died,  the  two  great  rewards, 
of  being  missed  and  being  regretted — is,  after  all, 
the  greatest  commendation  that  a  human  soul 
can  receive. 
Usefulness  First  let  us  notice  what  may  be  called  the 
inevitableness  of  usefulness  for  every  one  who  is 
in  spirit  as  well  as  profession  a  true  disciple  of 
Christ.  The  Lord  Himself  reasons  about  it  in 
the  verse  that  prefaces  this  passage,  and  shows 
how  it  must  be  so  if  there  is  light  in  us  at  all. 
He  had  already  told  His  followers  that  they  were 
the  light  of  the  world.  But  the  use  of  light  as 
well  as  its  function  is  to  shine.  So  it  is  with 
the  Christian.  "  Is  a  candle  brought  to  be  put 
under  a  bushel,  or  under  a  bed,  and  not  to  be  set 
on  a  candlestick  ?" 

A  Christian  is  a  Christian,  not  merely  for  the 
personal  object  of  his  individual  salvation,  but 
that  he  may  glorify  God  in  saving  others.  True, 
he  must  divest  himself  of  self-consciousness.  He 
must  not  feel  himself,  not  suffer  other  people  to 
discover,  that  he  thinks  himself  to  be  indispens- 
able to  the  accomplishment  of  the  divine  designs, 
or  that  he  can  ever  be  more  than  a  very  insigni- 
ficant factor  in  the  mighty  work  of  the  world's 
salvation.  Also,  if  he  is  not  to  destroy  his  own 
changes  of  usefulness,  he  must  be  constantly  on 
his  guard  against  religious  priggishness,  as  well 
as  against  the  habit  of  forcing  divine  things, 
either  with  arrogance  or  untimeliness,  on  the 
attention  of  his  neighbours.      But  he  is  to  shine 


SERVICE  259 

as  a  light  in  the  world,  if  he  would  not  be  missing 

one  of  the  chief  ends  of  his  salvation. 

The  scope  of  a  Christian's  usefulness  is  very  n,, 
wide  indeed.  "Before  men,"  Christ  said,  His 
disciples  were  to  make  their  light  to  shine.  But 
there  arc  several  spheres  of  usefulness,  in  their 
order  of  importance  and  necessity,  more  or  less 
open  to  us  all.  First  of  all,  there  is  the  home. 
Wherever  else  we  may  or  may  not  be  useful,  let 
us,  above  all  things,  endeavour  to  be  useful  at 
home.  No  doubt  it  will  often  be  hardest  here, 
for  the  last  place  where  a  prophet  has  honour 
is  his  own  country  ;  and  we  remember  the  warn- 
ing, "  that  a  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own 
household."  But  if  we  are  prophets  only  away 
from  home,  and  neglect  kinsfolk  and  servants, 
as  if  we  had  no  sort  of  responsibility  for  them, 
an  abyss  of  startling  disappointment  may  one 
day  yawn  under  our  feet.  Our  first  duties  are 
with  those  who  arc  nearest  and  dearest  to  us. 
We  need  not  assume  a  superiority  or  claim  a 
deference  which  do  not  properly  belong  to  us. 
Nevertheless,  if  our  light  does  not  shine  at 
home,  gently,  steadily,  continuously,  naturally, 
we  must  not  expect  it  to  make  much  impression 
on  people  outside. 

In  society  we  can  be  very  useful,  if  we  are 
only  earnestly  bent  on  it,  and  cultivate  tact 
and  modesty  and  self-effacement.  It  is  not 
the  mere  utterance  of  religious  opinion  which 
is    resented,    so    much     as    the    harshness    and 


260  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

dogmatic  self-assertion  with  which  it  is  too 
often  accompanied.  It  is  a  great  art  to  know 
how  to  converse  in  a  mixed  society  on  the  highest 
of  all  topics ;  yet  it  comes  by  practice  and  skill 
in  using  opportunity,  and  by  a  heart  made  calm 
and  brave  through  prayer.  Christ  cherished  in 
the  heart  will  mean  Christ  confessed  by  the  lips. 
It  is  often  to  the  surprise  and  disappointment  of 
careless  people  that  Christians  are  so  dumb  and 
timid  about  the  things  which  as  they  profess  to 
believe  are  before  everything  else  in  the  world. 

One  other  observation  may  be  made  here  : 
it  will  be  recognised  as  true  in  the  experience  of 
some  of  us.  It  is  extraordinary,  uncalled  for, 
even  unreasonable,  calls  to  usefulness  which,  if 
accepted  at  the  cost  of  personal  sacrifice,  simply 
from  the  mere  joy  of  going  out  of  our  way  to 
serve  Christ,  that  bring  often  the  happiest  results 
and  the  deepest  gladness.  "  I  do  it,  not  because 
I  must,  not  because  it  belongs  to  me,  but  because 
He  loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me,  and  I  wish 
to  please  Him."  Such  occasions  of  usefulness 
may  not  come  often.  Let  them  not  be  neglected 
when  they  offer  themselves.  The  heart,  which 
is  listening  for  the  voice  of  Christ,  will  always 
be  rightly  advised  about  them.  He  knows  our 
limitations,  and  He  will  only  expect  us  to  do  the 
"good  works  which  He  hath  Himself  ordained, 
that  we  should  walk  in  them." 
The  A  few  words  on  the  method  of  usefulness,  will 

method.  in  11  •  c     11 

handle  not  the  least  important  part  ot  all. 


SERVICE  2C1 

First,  all  our   usefulness,  whatever  it  may  be, 

must  drpend  on  our  character.  Character  means 
life.  People  find  us  out  much  sooner  than  we 
think  of,  and  if  we  expect  them  to  receive  our 
testimony,  the)'  claim  of  us  that  we  shall  believe  it 
for  ourselves.  Christ  in  the  heart  must  precede 
Christ  on  the  lips.  What  He  is  felt  to  be  to 
ourselves  in  the  surrender  of  our  lives  to  Him, 
He  is  likely  to  be  accepted  as  capable  of  becoming 
when  we  press  Him  on  others. 

The  discharge  of  our  daily  duty  will  immensely 
affect  our  influence  with  others.  People  are  very 
practical.  They  do  not  care  to  know  only  what 
a  man  thinks  or  professes,  but  also  what  he  is,  and 
what  he  docs.  On  the  integrity,  and  diligence,  and 
scrupulousness,  and  cheerfulness,  and  punctuality, 
and  exactness,  and  completeness,  and  kindness 
with  which  we  discharge  our  professional  duties 
in  relationship  with  those  who  come  into  contact 
with  us,  much  of  our  usefulness  must  depend. 

Friendship  gives  another  scope  for  usefulness. 
Ever)' human  being  is  more  or  less  affecting  some 
other  human  being  for  good  or  evil  ;  and  it  is  a 
tremendous  question — which  of  these  two  it  is. 
We  should  try  to  win  our  friends  to  Christ  : 
those  whom  we  would  not  deceive  if  we  could  ; 
those,  also,  who  would  find  it  out  in  a  moment 
if  we  were  trying  to  deceive  them,  or  were  tainted 
with  the  least  taint  of  unreality.  A  friend  means 
an  opportunitv.  Let  us  not  lose  it  ;  it  is  a  talent 
which  we  must  not  bury  in  the  earth. 


262  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Once  more,  for  each  one,  if  lie  cares  to  trust 
it  and  to  use  it,  Christ  offers  some  special  ser- 
vice, according  to  capacity,  age,  and  gift.  "  Why 
stand  ye  all  the  day  idle  ?  "  is  His  question  still 
to  every  one  of  us.  "  Go  ye  also  into  the  vine- 
yard "  is  still  His  honourable  command.  One 
duty,  if  well  done,  makes  another  duty.  Our 
years  multiply  and  our  opportunities  of  useful- 
ness change,  though  they  do  not  diminish  with  the 
ripening  years.  "  Here  am  I,  Lord,  send  me," 
should  be  the  utterance  of  every  Christian  heart, 
until  service  is  exchanged  for  rest,  in  the  vision 
of  the  Lamb.  Then  "  She  hath  done  what  she 
could,"  shall  be  the  Master's  praise  for  us,  when 
we  go  to  see  His  face,  and  are  welcomed  into 
the  everlasting:  habitations. 


II. 
NEIGH  BO  URLINESS 

WJw  is  my  neighbour?- — Luke  x.  29. 

T^HIS  is  the  question  of  questions  ;  the  ques- 
Hon  which  underlies  all  the  good  that  will 
ever  be  done  in  the  world  ;  the  question  which 
each  of  us  should  face  and  get  settled  for  himself, 
if  he  would  not  only  do  a  little  good  before  he 
dies,  but  do  the  right  sort  of  good,  and  as  much 


SERVICE  265 

of  it  as  God  means  him  to  do,  and   for  the  right 
people  ;   a  question  which,  as   this  Gospel   shows 
us,  it   is   possible   to   put    in    a  wrong  spirit,  hut 
which  assuredly  it    is   also   possible   to  put  in   a 
right    spirit,   and   which   it   argues,  if  not   levity, 
most  certainly  negligence,  not   to   put   at  all.      It 
is   quite   true  that  the  scribe  in  the  narrative  put 
it  with  the  object  of  evading  his  duty.      Christ's 
precept  when   enforced   may  have  seemed  extra- 
vagant, unreasonable,  impossible.      It   is   equally 
true  that  Christ  was  simply  approving  what   had 
just   come  out    of  the   scribe's   own  mouth,  who 
moreover  had   defined   the    scope   of  the   law  of 
love  on  its  side  towards  mankind,  in  the  words  : 
"  Thou   shalt   love    thy    neighbour   as    thyself." 
But,  either  because  he  had  never  really  accepted 
it  as  a  positive  and   needful  duty,  or  because  he 
had  not  before  recognised  that   eternal   life   hung 
upon    it,    he    is   startled    at    his   own   words,  he 
shrinks   from   the   yoke   he   has   unwittingly  im- 
posed on  himself,  he   secretly  hopes  that   Christ 
in  His   reply  will  make  this  lofty  duty  of  loving 
our  neighbour  facile,  and  so  tolerable. 

The  answer  in  one  sense  was  no  answer  at 
all.  In  another  sense  it  was  a  much  better  and 
deeper  answer  than  what  he  had  desired.  Christ 
declined,  as  He  always  did,  to  lay  down  rules, 
and  so  to  make  it  possible  for  any  one  to  abdicate 
the  responsibility  of  consulting  his  conscience, 
and  to  shirk  the  duty  of  applying  eternal  and 
unchanging  principles  to  each  ense  as  it  occurred. 


264  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

What  practically  He  said  was  this  :  "  Love,  and 
your  question  will  settle  itself."  The  loving 
heart  never  makes  difficulties,  rather  it  multiplies 
opportunities  for  satisfying  itself.  Instead  of 
asking  how  little  it  can  do,  or  how  few  it  can 
help,  it  discovers  (always  in  proportion  to  its 
sincerity  and  depth)  how  much  it  can  do,  and 
how  many  it  can  help.  When,  moreover,  the 
love  to  God  precedes  the  love  to  man,  that  love 
will  measure,  qualify,  inspire,  direct  it.  To  feel 
that  man  belongs  to  God,  and  is  unspeakably 
precious  to  Him,  is  to  any  one  who  loves  God 
the  greatest  incentive  possible  to  love  man  for 
God's  sake.  Admitting  all  this,  it  is  still  fair 
and  reasonable  for  any  one  who  feels,  and 
justifiably  feels,  that  his  opportunities  are  limited, 
and  that  some  people  are  a  long  way  off,  to 
inquire  on  what  principles  he  should  try  to  use 
gifts  and  resources  he  possesses  to  the  best 
possible  account. 

Perhaps  a  tolerably  complete  answer  to  the 
Who  "my  scribe's  question  is  that  "my  neighbour"  is  he 
who  comes  in  my  way,  and  who  needs  some- 
thing from  me,  whatever  it  may  be,  which  it  is 
actually  in  my  power  to  give  him.  It  is  he, 
further,  whom  I  can  help  without  injustice  to 
others,  and  in  a  measure  which  will  neither 
impair  nor  imperil  the  ordinary  responsibilities 
of  my  life.  The  man  who  comes  in  my  way  is 
clearly  the  man  to  whom  I  have  the  best  oppor- 
tunities for  being  neighbourly  when   his  circum- 


eiekbour 


SERVICE  265 

stances  force  themselves  on  my  notice.  There 
are  many  ways  in  which  n  man  can  come  in  our 
way    and   assert    his    right    to    neighbourliness. 

We  may  pass  him  in  the  street,  we  may  meet 
him  in  a  friend's  house,  we  may  read  about  him 
in  the  newspapers,  he  may  live  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  our  own  home.  Unless,  however, 
we  are  actually  in  possession  of  his  circumstances 
and  definitely  understand  his  case — so  far  as  we 
are  concerned — he  and  his  claims  practically  do 
not  exist. 

There  arc  some  things  which  all  men  may 
claim  when  there  is  an  opportunity  for  granting 
them,  and  when  they  wish  the  opportunity  to  be 
used.  To  all  men  we  owe  truth,  example,  kind- 
ness, charity.  To  some  we  owe  personal  sym- 
pathy, money,  or  the  equivalent  of  money,  honest 
counsel,  and  tender  care.  To  some,  I  say,  and 
not  to  all,  for  it  is  plain  that  there  must  be  in 
this  neighbourliness  limitations  and  exceptions, 
with  the  conscience  of  judgment  behind  them,  and 
the  selection  that  results  from  choice.  Some 
persons  come  first,  and  some  second,  and  some 
nowhere.  Children,  parents,  belongings,  friends 
have  claims  on  us,  which  are  paramount,  and  it 
is  sin  to  repudiate  them.  But  it  does  not 
therefore  follow  that  they  exhaust  our  possibi- 
lities of  duty,  or  relieve  us  from  an  occasional 
and  exceptional  service  such  as  the  parable  of 
the  Good  Samaritan  has  indelibly  engraved  on 
the   conscience   of   humanity.      My   child    is   my 


266  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

first  neighbour,  but  the  sick  labourer  in  the  next 
street  may  be  my  second.  If  I  have  to  weigh 
the  claims  of  spiritual  distress  at  my  own  door, 
against  the  silent  yet  irrepressible  cry  of  a  vast 
heathendom,  "  Come  over  and  help  us,"  I  shall 
give  a  larger  share  of  my  help  to  those  who 
are  living  close  to  me,  and  for  whose  highest 
welfare  I  feel  specially  responsible.  But  I  also 
remember  the  great  legacy  of  duty  bequeathed 
by  the  divine  founder  of  our  religion  to  His  dis- 
ciples in  all  ages  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  every 
creature.  Is  there  any  work  under  the  sun  that 
we  can  conceive  of  as  nearer  to  the  heart  of  the 
glorified  Saviour  than  that  of  declaring  the  Gospel 
of  Redemption  to  the  race  He  yearns  and  waits 
to  save  ? 

A  few  concluding  sentences  may  help  to  rescue 
this  subject  from  the  inaccessible  cloudland  of  a 
sentimental  and  impracticable  philanthropy  into 
the  humble  but  practical  region  of  daily  life. 
The  secret  The  first  secret  of  neighbourliness  is,  as  has 
already  been  hinted,  to  have  a  great  love  for  men 
as  men.  No  doubt  we  are  very  differently  con- 
stituted in  this  respect,  and  it  is  well  that  we 
should  be,  or  society  would  be  at  the  mercy  of 
the  rogues.  Not  all  men  have  the  genius  of 
benevolence  which  Lord  Shaftesbury  and  John 
Howard  had.  If  we  have  not  got  it,  we  had 
better  not  pretend  to  have  it,  nor  to  embark  on 
enterprises  of  which  we  shall  soon  tire.  But 
there    are    constant    openings    for   kindness,    for 


of  neigh- 
bourlines 


SERVICE  2<,7 

compassion,  for  pulling  men  out  of  a  pit  instead 
of  keeping  them  there,  for  making  the  hest  of 
men  instead  of  thinking  the  worst  of  them. 
Never  to  despair  <>f  any  one  as  helpless,  never  to 
despise  a  soul  which  the  Saviour  bought  with  Mis 
blood,  is  a  golden  rule  for  all.  To  be  willing  to 
take  trouble  is  the  great  condition  of  being  useful 
to  others  ;  to  be  prepared  to  make  sacrifices  is 
the  only  way  to  success. 

Then  we  must  not  be  too  much  afraid  of  being 
taken  in,  or  of  being  disappointed,  or  of  being 
treated  with  ingratitude.  "  To  do  good,  hoping 
for  nothing  again,"  is  the  Master's  lofty  com- 
mand. Only  one  of  the  ten  lepers  came  back  to 
thank  Christ  for  being  cured.  Of  the  hundreds 
and  thousands  whom  He  taught,  fed,  and  healed, 
how  many  stood  by  Him  at  His  cross?  Form}' 
own  part,  I  would  not  give  much  for  the  man 
who  is  never  taken  in.  His  cleverness  and  in- 
sight probably  do  not  run  much  risk,  and  he  who 
is  so  constantly  on  his  guard  against  the  mischief 
of  mistaken  kindness  may  come  in  the  end  to 
have  neither  heart  nor  courage  for  kindness  at 
all.  Let  us  share  the  divine  risks,  and  the 
divine  disappointments,  if  only  we  may  earn  the 
divine  welcome.  In  our  neighbourliness,  of 
course,  there  must  be  prudence.  Who  denies  it  ? 
Who  would  make  light  of  it  ?  There  must  now 
and  then  also  be  a  venture,  an  experiment,  a  net 
cast  into  a  deep  sea,  a  toil  or  a  journey  which 
seems  to  bring   no  reward.      Yet   such  acts  keep 


268  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  heart  alive,  stir  the  embers  of  Christian  love, 
make  hope  at  once  an  anchor  and  a  leverage,  and 
compel  the  violence  of  intercessory  prayer. 

In  all  our  neighbourliness  there  must  be 
simplicity  and  self-effacement,  naturalness,  and 
an  absence  of  superiority.  To  serve  man  well, 
we  must  not  only  love  him  well,  but  know  him 
well.  Not  unfrequently  the  people  who  are  best 
worth  saving  are  those  about  whom  in  approach- 
ing them  there  is  a  great  deal  of  obstinate  pride 
to  reckon  with.  This  barrier  can  be  overcome, 
but  not  by  storming  it.  It  can  be  sapped  only 
by  delicate  and  respectful  kindness. 

Lastly,  faith  must  be  coupled  with  all  we  do, 
or  we  shall  lose  perseverance,  and  God  will  refuse 
His  blessing.  There  is  something  of  the  divine 
left  in  every  man.  Let  us  be  quite  sure  of  that 
on  starting  with  him.  We  should  always  keep 
it  before  us,  and  reckon  it  as  something  on  our 
side  while  dealing  with  him.  Also  let  us  re- 
member that  man  was  born  into  the  world  to  be 
saved,  not  to  be  lost,  and  that  God's  purpose, 
God's  sympathy,  God's  power,  are  all  for  us  in 
keeping  him.  He  may  not  suffer  us  to  see  all 
your  success  :  "  One  soweth  and  another  reapeth." 
But  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  lord  and  giver  of  life, 
and  it  is  still  His  work  to  convince  the  world  of 
sin. 


SERVICE  269 

111 

OPENINGS  OF  GOOD 

/A'.c'  many  haves  have  yei—  Matthew  xv.  34. 

/^\UI\.  Lord,  while  He  never  asked  advice,  was 
^^  wont  to  take  His  disciples  into  I  lis  con- 
fidence, and  to  draw  out  of  them  what  was  at 
work  in  their  minds  by  inviting  their  observation 
and  sympathy.  This  incident  is  an  excellent 
illustration  of  the  full-orbedness  of  Christ's 
nature.  No  clement  was  lacking  in  it  to  give  it 
perfection.  While  nothing  was  in  excess,  all 
worked  together  in  unerring  and  instant  harmony. 
He  had  compassion  on  the  people,  for  they  had 
nothing  to  cat,  and  divers  of  them  came  from 
afar.  Vet  pity  in  Him  was  steadied  by  reflec- 
tion. Intending  to  help  them,  He  was  careful  to 
help  them  in  the  wisest  way.  Had  He  pleased 
He  might  have  been  prodigal  of  His  almighty 
power,  and  have  bewildered  them  with  marvels 
as  well  as  satisfied  them  with  bounty.  But  He 
wished  to  teach  the  world  that  economy  both  of 
power  and  resource  is  a  primary  law  in  the 
divine  government  ;  and  perhaps  of  all  the 
thousands  who  were  nourished  by  this  quiet 
and  simple  multiplication  of  a  humble  store 
which    a    boy  could    carry,    not    a    hundred  ever 


270  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

discovered    that    they    had    been   supernaturally 
fed. 

This  question  of  Christ's  is  wonderfully  sug- 
gestive for  those — they  are  many — who  are 
tempted  to  be  content  with  doing  nothing  for 
Christ  because  they  cannot  do  much  for  Him,  and 
who  honestly  though  ignorantly  suppose  that  an 
acceptable  excuse  for  their  standing  all  the  day 
idle,  is  that  no  man  hath  hired  them. 
Conditions.  The  first  condition  of  usefulness  absolutely 
indispensable  for  every  one,  is  to  see  the  need 
of  it  and  to  observe  the  scope  of  it.  Too 
many  of  us  have  our  eyes  closed  to  our  brother's 
need,  and  our  consciences  insensible  about  our 
own  responsibility  for  it.  When  Christ  inquired, 
"Whence  shall  we  buy  bread  that  these  may 
eat  ? "  He  desired  to  suggest  to  the  disciples 
that  the  people  were  starving.  The  answer  He 
received  was  that  the  idea  of  feeding  them  was 
simply  impossible.  We  always  see  lions  in  the 
way  when  we  would  avoid  the  road. 

The  next  condition  is  to  recognise  that  the 
opportunity  of  usefulness  is  ever  at  hand  if  we 
are  only  willing  to  perceive  it.  Hearts  have 
eyes,  but  selfishness  and  laziness  too  often  shut 
them.  To  love  is  to  see.  The  world  round  us 
is  a  great  hospital  full  of  the  sick  and  weary  and 
needy  and  dying.  If  we  coldly  ask,  "  Who  is  my 
neighbour  ?  "  we  shall  be  punished  by  not  being 
able  to  discharge  the  office  of  neighbourliness. 
If  we  are  wishing  to  help,  Lazarus  is  at  our  door. 


SERVICE  271 

Another  condition  of  usefulness  is  to  be  per- 
fectly sure  that  every  duty  is  possible  ;  and  that 
If  we  will  take  the  trouble  to  inquire,  each  and  all 
of  us  have  resources  as  well  as  opportunities 
for  diminishing  the  anguish  of  the  world.  Every 
widow  has  her  mite,  though  few  give  it  all.  Our 
blessings  are  given  to  be  divided,  not  hoarded. 
Each  has  something  to  own,  and  therefore  some- 
thing to  share. 

Again,  we  must  not  be  daunted  or  bafllcd  by 
the  insignificance  of  the  help  it  ma}'  be  in  our 
power  to  give,  or  by  the  poverty,  even  the  scanti- 
ness, of  our  resources.  Here  were  only  five 
barley  loves  and  two  small  fishes.  The  fare  how 
meagre,  the  quantity  how  small  !  Yet  the  Lord 
used  and  multiplied  it  for  almost  the  greatest 
miracle  He  ever  performed.  It  was  rare,  for 
Me  only  once  repeated  it;  didactic,  for  He  founded 
on  it  next  day  in  the  synagogue  at  Capernaum 
one  of  the  profoundest  discourses  that  ever  left 
His  lips.  It  is  not  only  they  who  have  much 
money,  or  abundant  leisure,  or  great  knowledge, 
or  commanding  influence  to  place  at  the  disposal 
of  mankind  who  glorify  God  and  serve  their 
generation,  though  indeed  we  need  such  and 
many  more  of  them.  We  should  be  grateful  for 
their  sympathy  and  cannot  dispense  with  their 
support.  It  is  the  tens  and  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  humble  teachers,  quiet  wrorkers,  patient 
nurses,  thoughtful  friends,  who  soothe  the  world's 
heartaches,   and,  if  for    a   brief  hour,  make   the 


272  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

weary  sufferer  forget  the  sharpness  of  his  pain. 
Thunderstorms  have  value,  but  it  is  the  showers 
and  the  dew  that  fill  the  brooks  which  run  among 
the  hills,  and  yet  the  myriad  drops  that  water  the 
earth  are  unseen  and  unregarded. 

Once  more  :  the  great  thing  is  to  brush  away 
difficulties,  to  remember  that  waiting  and  trem- 
bling and  reasoning  and  putting  off  never  yet 
made  a  duty  easier,  or  lightened  a  sufferer  with 
the  burden  on  his  back.  Most  of  all,  the  great 
thing  is  to  begin.  "Make  the  men  sit  down," 
said  Christ.  Do  not  you  see  the  wisdom  of  this  ? 
It  filled  the  people  with  expectation,  and  assured 
them  that  something  was  coming  if  they  would 
only  wait  for  it.  As  for  the  disciples,  it  made 
them  see,-  perhaps  with  a  sort  of  shame,  that 
the  Lord  had  a  bountiful  purpese  in  His  heart 
which  in  spite  of  their  objections  and  hesitations 
He  was  resolved  to  accomplish.  St.  John,  who 
records  the  miracle  and  the  discourse  that  came 
out  of  it,  may  have  remembered  the  marriage 
feast  in  the  little  Galilean  village  two  years  before, 
and  have  recalled  the  Virgin's  instructions  to  the 
chagrined  but  expectant  servants,  "  Whatsoever 
He  saith  unto  you,  do  it." 

Again,  observe  how  the  Lord  would  not  do  it 
all  Himself,  nor  would  He  summon  angels  to  do 
it  with  Him.  He  was  bent  on  using,  in  blessed 
co-operation  with  His  divine  power,  the  humble 
services  of  men.  We  too  are  fellow- workers 
with  Him,  and   it  would   be  well  if  we  remem- 


Shin' 1  CI:  273 

bered  it  mure,  for  the  joy  of  the  service  and  for 
the  assurance  of  the  result.  He  is  with  us 
when  we  are  doing  what  He  bids  us  do,  and  for 

Him.  lie  takes  care,  if  we  will  also  take  care 
by  diligence  and  obedience,  that  those  whom  we 
help  arc  filled.  He  gives  thanks,  for  them  and 
for  us,  and  we  should  share  His  thankfulness,  at 
being  permitted  to  serve  them  at  all.  We  may  rely 
upon  it,  that  of  all  the  blessings  of  life  on  which 
we  shall  look  back  with  grateful  wonder  from 
our  glorified  home,  nothing  will  move  us  more 
than  that  we  were  permitted  to  help  His  poor 
and  sick  and  afflicted  ones,  who  represented  Him 
to  us,  and  in  serving  and  loving  whom  we  served 
and  loved  our  Lord. 

Lastly,  after  He  had  fed  the  people  He  sent 
them  away  and  dismissed  the  disciples  to  the 
ship.  There  may  have  been  several  reasons  for 
this.  Perhaps  He  already  detected  in  them 
indications  of  their  wishing  to  make  Him  a  king, 
and  He  ma}-  have  felt  that  it  was  not  safe  to 
trust  them  with  the  excited  multitude,  lest  the}' 
should  combine  with  them  in  their  proposal  and 
so  make  His  personal  embarrassment  greater. 
Another  reason  may  have  been  that  He  wished 
to  spare  them,  though  He  refused  to  spare 
Himself.  He  saw  that  they  were  weary  with 
much  ministering.  He  had  compassion  on  them 
as  He  had  had  on  the  multitude.  In  dismissing 
them  to  the  ship,  where  they  could  quietly  wait 
for    Him   till   He  was   ready,  they  would  find   a 

s. 


274  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

good  opportunity  for  at  least  an  hour's  repose. 
There  was  one  reason  more.  Would  that  we 
could  all  learn  it  !  Then  our  activities  would  be 
less  feverish,  and  our  sense  of  God  more  quick. 
He  needed  the  refreshment  of  prayer.  There  is 
a  waste  not  only  of  bodily  strength  but  of 
spiritual  freshness  in  incessant  exertion  even  for 
the  glory  of  God  and  the  service  of  man.  This 
waste  must  be  repaired  or  the  spirit  will  suffer 
loss  and  damage.  It  can  only  be  repaired  by 
quiet  and  devotion  in  close  communion  with 
God. 

IV 

GIFTS 

Arc  all  prophets?- — t  Cor.  xii.  29. 

'TWO  great  hindrances  to  usefulness  in  those 
who  think  they  wish  to  be  useful,  yet  have 
never  really  tried  to  be,  are  pusillanimousness 
and  ambition.  They  are  twin  sisters.  To  put 
it  otherwise,  there  is  the  fault  of  not  thinking 
it  worth  while  to  do  a  little  because  it  is  little, 
and  of  not  caring  to  do  something  because  it 
may  not  lead  to  much.  Further,  if  we  were 
also  to  inquire  from  which  of  these  faults  the 
world  has  suffered  most  loss,  the  answer  would 
probably  be   from   the  former.      It  is  the  million 


SERVICE  275 

workers  who  keep  the  world  moving  and  grow- 
ing by  their  industry  and  cheerfulness,  though 
of  course  these  millions  need  daring  and  original 
leaders  to  inspire  them  with  enthusiasm  and  to 
give  them  their  start.  Of  either  fault,  no  doubt, 
pride  is  at  the  bottom. 

The  point  of  the  apostle's  argument  is  clear 
enough.  After  stating  a  fact,  which  is  so  con- 
spicuous and  so  undeniable  that  it  needs  no 
further  proving, — the  fact  of  the  existence  of  gifts 
and  the  diversity  of  them, — and  after  referring  all 
to  the  divine  sovereignty,  which  in  an  often  un- 
accountable exercise  of  mercy  and  righteousness 
bestows  these  gifts  where  and  how  it  pleases,  he 
proceeds  to  press  that  while  no  man  possesses 
all  these  gifts,  and  few  have  many  of  them,  each 
man  has  at  least  one,  and  instead  of  complaining 
that  it  is  not  some  other  which  perhaps  might 
earn  him  more  distinction  and  bring  him  more 
advantage,  he  is  to  remember  how  much  poorer 
the  world  would  be  if  gifts  were  limited  instead 
of  being  various,  that  the  distribution  of  them 
is  with  the  intention  of  making  them  more  ex- 
tensively useful,  and  that  each  man  has  the  exact 
gift  given  to  him  for  doing  the  work  that  God 
has  ordained  for  him  to  do. 

Are  all  prophets  ?  No,  but  some  are.  This 
gift  of  prophecy  was  not  the  faculty  of  foreseeing 
the  future,  but  the  much  more  important  one 
of  interpreting  and  expounding  the  word  of  God. 
This  gift    in   our   time   has   a  wide   scope.       It 


276  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

includes,  often  outside  the  limits  of  an  ordained 
ministry,  the  gift  of  simply  and  attractively  ex- 
plaining the  Scriptures,  so  indispensable  for  all 
who  would  teach  the  ignorant,  visit  the  sick,  or 
do  in  any  degree  or  fashion  what  St.  Paul  calls 
the  work  of  an  evangelist.  It  includes  also  the 
duty  of  teaching  the  young  in  day  or  Sunday- 
schools  ;  where  the  work  if  disciplinary  is  also 
didactic,  where  the  task  of  bringing  Christ  in 
His  word  to  the  minds  and  hearts  of  His  re- 
deemed children  has  to  be  constantly,  intelligently, 
and  perseveringly  done. 

Are  all  prophets  ?  No,  and  there  is  no  need 
that  they  should  be.  Some  have  not  leisure  for 
the  work  of  prophesying  ;  others  are  too  old,  or 
too  young,  or  too  inexperienced.  Others  have 
not  health.  St.  James  has  said,  "  My  brethren, 
be  not  many  masters,  knowing  that  we  shall  re- 
ceive greater  condemnation."  The  word  masters 
is  better  rendered  teachers.  But  there  are  other 
things  to  do  for  God  and  men  beside  prophesying, 
and  one  of  them  is  the  good  that  is  to  be  done 
by  our  influence  on  society.  There  are  some 
people  who,  without  opening  their  lips  or  saying 
a  word,  create  an  atmosphere  which  by  itself 
elevates,  purifies,  protects,  consoles.  They  help 
the  world  by  what  they  are,  even  more  than  by 
what  they  do.  A  virtue  goes  out  of  them  of 
which  they  are  quite  unconscious,  and,  like 
the  waters  of  Ezekiel's  river,  they  bring  life 
and   healing  wherever  they  go   or   stay.       This 


SERVICE  277 

is  a  wonderful  power,  for  it  cannot  be  evaded 
nor  contradicted,  nor  escaped  nor  quarrelled  The  genius 
with,  and  the  strangest  thing  about  it  is  that '',. 
it  is  in  the  power  of  us  all.  It  is  true,  as  has 
been  quaintly  and  not  quite  inexactly  observed, 
that  some  men  have  a  genius  for  goodness. 
They  seem  to  have  less  to  contend  with  in  their 
personal  nature  than  other  men.  In  a  way  they 
are  born  saints,  and  grow  up  in  saintlincss.  But 
it  is  even  with  them  only  by  effort  and  struggle, 
and  duty  and  prayer,  and  grace  and  truth,  that 
the  divine  presence  is  manifested  and  augmented 
in  them,  and  that  Christ's  promise  about  life  is 
literally  fulfilled,  that  "  ye  might  have  it  more 
abundantly."  To  be  able,  just  because  we  arc 
at  hand,  to  check  uncharitableness,  to  silence 
mischievous  gossip,  to  make  irreverence  shocking, 
and  scoffing  impossible  ;  to  kindle  a  glow  of 
devotion,  to  move  the  springs  of  duty,  to  make 
Christ  understood,  and  to  touch  hearts  with  the 
thought  of  His  unspeakable  love,  ought  not  to 
be  something  far  up  among  the  stars,  or  hope- 
lessly out  of  our  reach  ;  will  be  blessedly  possible, 
though  usually  they  do  not  know  it,  for  all  those 
who  walk  closely  and  humbly  with  Him. 

Are  all  prophets  ?  No,  but  all  may  be  the 
friends  of  some  lonely  stranger,  the  consolers  of 
some  sorrowful  mourner,  the  guide  of  some  little 
orphan  child,  the  means  and  instruments,  by  ways 
easily  discovered  and  delightfully  practicable  for 
tender  and  kind  hearts,  of  bringing  sunshine  and 


278  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  feeling  of  being  cared  for  to  those  for  whom 
earth  has  become  a  desolate  and  flowerless  habi- 
tation, and  life  a  dull  monotony  of  duties  without 
a  break  and  cares  without  a  change.  Who  of  us 
does  not  know  the  joy  and  power  of  small  kind- 
nesses ;  or  how  one,  who  perhaps  owns  only  one 
talent,  certainly  not  more  than  two,  can  double 
them  by  a  quiet  diligence,  never  intermitting  in 
acts  of  secret  beneficence,  and  by  the  steady  im- 
provement of  moderate  capacity  always  put  out 
to  usury  in  the  service  of  the  Lord  ? 

In  the  well-known  fable  the  tortoise  beat  the 
hare  because  the  hare  slept,  and  the  tortoise 
always  moved  on.  Unthinking  people  might 
prefer  to  be  the  hare  and  despise  the  tortoise. 
But,  on  the  whole  probably,  the  perseverance  of 
the  tortoise  does  more  for  society  than  the  swift- 
ness of  the  hare  ;  though  it  must  be  confessed 
that  the  tortoise  might  with  advantage  be  a  little 
quicker  in  its  movements,  and  the  hare  not  rely 
so  much  on  its  great  speed.  Activity  and  per- 
severance are  both  needed,  and  should  never  be 
kept  apart. 

Are  all  prophets  ?  No ;  but  we  can  pray, 
even  though  we  are  not  prophets  ;  and  who  shall 
limit  the  power,  the  usefulness,  or  the  final 
results  of  fervent  and  believing  prayer  ?  The 
little  child  can  pray,  and  its  heavenly  Father  will 
not  despise  its  innocent,  lisping  words.  The 
bedridden  patient  can  pray,  and  from  the  four 
corners   of  a   sick-room    can    set    constantly    in 


SER]  h  i 

motion  the  invisible  forces  which  strengthen  the 
distant  missionary  with  a  power  which  he  feels 
but  cannot  trace  ;  which  blesses  the  physician's 
skill  to  a  struggling  life  and  snatches  it  from  the 
jaws  of  dissolution  ;  which  brings  quick  and  deep 
repentance  to  some  prodigal  son,  far  from  his 
father's  house,  but  not  far  from  a  parent's 
prayers  ;  which  gives  courage  and  purpose  to 
some  brave  reformer  struggling  against  evil  and 
beaten  to  his  knees  by  almost  fatal  blows. 
Moment  by  moment  the  prayers  of  the  saints  rise 
up  like  incense  before  the  throne  of  God,  made 
acceptable  and  potent  through  the  name  of  the 
one  Mediator.  Moment  by  moment  they  return 
to  us  in  showers  of  blessing. 

Are  all  prophets  ?  No ;  but  whether  pro- 
phets or  no  there  is  a  way  even  more  excellent 
open  to  all  of  us  ;  there  is  a  duty  even  more 
pressing  and  more  lofty  from  which  none  of  us 
need  wish  to  escape.  "  Covet  earnestly  the  best 
gifts,"  says  the  apostle.  Do  not  be  guilty  of  the 
paltry  meanness  of  underrating  gifts  you  are  not 
conscious  of  possessing,  or  of  depreciating  duties 
which  you  are  not  qualified  to  discharge.  Never-  The  way 
theless,  there  is  a  higher  and  a  better  way  than  ^ 
any,  and  that  is  the  way  of  love.  Love  has  its 
phases,  its  varieties,  its  manifestations,  its 
characteristic  activities  ;  but  the  ethical  definition 
of  it  is  the  going  out  of  self,  and  the  divine 
example  of  it  is  the  love  of  God  in  Christ. 
Nothing  can  make  up  for  the  lack  of  it ;   nothing 


280  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

can  exaggerate  the  power  of  it  ;  nothing  can 
describe  the  sweetness  of  it  ;  nothing  can  fathom 
the  springs  of  it  in  the  eternal  nature  of  God.  A 
man  is  like  God,  just  so  far  as  he  loves.  He 
represents  God,  just  to  the  extent  that  he  mani- 
fests his  love.  He  understands  God,  only  to  the 
extent  that  he  knows  and  believes  the  divine 
love  to  his  own  soul.  He  possesses  and  enjoys 
God,  just  so  far  as  God's  love  in  him  flows  out 
of  him  on  to  his  fellows  ;  and  men  take  know- 
ledge of  him  that  he  is  with  Jesus,  because  Jesus 
living  within  him  lives  his  life. 


"THINGS    WHICH    CANNOT    BE 
MOVED" 


The  sun  has  set,   but  it  will  rise  again.     Let  us  go  home. 

John  Inglesant. 


SYMPATHY 

Who  ii  weak,  and  I  am  n  who  ii  offended,  and  I 

burn  not .' — 2  COR.   xi.  29. 

MANY-SIDEDNESS,  which  is  an  invariable 
characteristic  of  all  really  great  men, 
was  indisputably  a  feature  in  St.  Paul.  No 
doubt  it  has  risks  and  disadvantages.  There  is 
the  chance  of  shallowness,  for  no  one  can  dis- 
cipline or  cultivate  all  the  parts  of  his  nature  with 
equal  sedulity  or  success.  It  is  often,  and  with 
supreme  unfairness,  identified  with  insincerity,  or 
a  dramatic  posing  after  goodness.  Capricious- 
ness,  too,  is  imputed  to  these  large  and  sensitive 
natures,  because  we  cannot  always  find  them  in 
the  same  mood  ;  and  having  settled  for  ourselves 
the  action  or  judgment  they  would  be  likely  to 
take  under  particular  circumstances,  to  our  sur- 
prise and  mortification  we  find  them  going  their 
own  way.  No  man,  in  all  the  history  of  the 
race,  was  more   many-sided  than  St.  Paul  ;  and, 


284  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

perhaps,  that  one  feature  of  his  nature  which  has 
done  more  than  any  other  to  conciliate  the  affec- 
tion, as  well  as  to  excite  the  admiration  of  the 
Church,  is  sympathy — the  sympathy  which  burns 
so  brightly  and  steadily  in  the  question  prefixed  to 
this  chapter  ;  and  in  which,  almost  before  any- 
thing else,  we  are  to  follow  him  as  he  followed 
Christ.  Sympathy  is  feeling  with  others,  and  it 
is  quite  a  distinct  thing  from  feeling  for  them. 
The  latter  is  more  of  a  quick  and  evanescent 
sentiment,  good  as  far  as  it  goes,  but  not  often 
going  far  ;  laudable  as  long  as  it  lasts,  but  not 
always  lasting  over  the  hour.  Sympathy  is  a 
habit,  or  temper  of  mind,  which  means  prayer  and 
effort  and  sacrifice,  and  a  sense  of  the  common 
lot,  with  firmness  and  discrimination,  and,  best 
of  all,  "the  mind  of  Christ" — a  quality  which, 
almost  more  than  any  other,  makes  religion  a 
real  and  beautiful  and  practical  thing  ;  and  helps 
men  to  believe  that  Christ  still  lives  and  pities 
and  reigns. 

Let  us  first  select  certain  types  of  circumstance 
which  sympathy  springs  to  meet  with  a  certain 
eagerness  of  purpose,  with  which,  nevertheless, 
it  has  to  deal  in  a  circumspect  and  even  invigor- 
ating wisdom  ;  concluding  with  a  few  preceptive 
remarks  on  the  divine  education  of  sympathy, 
and  the  moral  force  which  it  exercises  in  the 
affairs  of  men. 

First,  let  us  not  forget  our  apostle's  precept, 
"  Rejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,"  and  not  be 


"THINGS   WIIK  11  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"       285 

so  ignorant  as  to  suppose  that  men  do  not  value 

sympathy  with  happiness,  though  they  may  need  / .,;., 
it  more  in  sorrow.  All  conditions  of  life,  as  well  'v'"'''"hy- 
as  all  classes  of  men,  claim  and  appreciate  sym- 
pathy. Our  Lord's  presence  at  the  marriage 
feast  at  Cana,  as  well  as  at  the  feast  at  Bethany 
after  the  raising  of  His  friend  Lazarus,  is  an 
instance  in  point.  Disappointment  and  wounded 
self-love  may  occasionally  have  something  to  do 
with  our  lack  of  sympathy  in  a  friend's  happi- 
ness, but  thoughtlessness  and  a  certain  lazy 
selfishness  have  more.  Let  it  not  be  supposed 
that  inattention  at  such  times  is  not  felt,  or  leaves 
no  impression  on  the  soul.  We  should  remember 
the  Gospel  parable,  where  even  God  Himself, 
under  a  figure,  is  represented  by  the  Lord  as  desir- 
ing sympathy,  and  asking  for  it.  "Rejoice  with 
me,  for  I  have  found  my  sheep  which  was  lost." 
There  are  difficulties  in  religion,  where  honest 
and  even  reverent  souls  demand  sympathy,  and 
do  not  always  get  it.  What  sincere  thinker  has 
not  at  some  time  or  other  felt  it  hard,  painfully 
hard,  to  comprehend  all  our  Lord's  actions,  or  to 
accept  the  entire  teaching  of  the  Creeds  ?  "A 
bruised  reed  shall  He  not  break,  and  smoking 
flax  shall  He  not  quench,"  was  once  said  of 
Christ.  Let  us  deserve  to  have  it  said  of  us. 
If  blessed  are  they  who  have  no  difficulties,  still 
more  blessed  are  they  who  have  had  them  and 
overcome  them,  and  thereby  are  better  able  to 
guide  and  encourage  others  who  are  wandering 


diffiailth 


286  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

in  the  same  darkness  and  stumbling  over  the 
spiritual  same  pitfalls.  Nothing  so  tends  to  discourage, 
or  harden,  or  anger  men  into  actual  unbelief,  as 
a  cold,  harsh,  dogmatic  treatment,  of  their  difficul- 
ties, too  often  resulting  in  a  deliberate  rejection 
of  God.  Sympathy  here,  indeed,  must  be  prudent 
and  frank,  and  not  treat  doubt  and  unbelief  as  if 
either  were  rather  a  grand  thing  almost  to  be 
admired,  as  showing  acuteness  of  intellect,  and  of 
no  such  great  consequence  after  all.  "  Such 
questions  can  wait,"  people  say.  Difficulties  like 
these  are  of  consequence — they  rob  us  of  noble 
comfort,  divine  illumination,  and  a  straight  road 
in  life.  But  while  treated  gently  they  should  be 
handled  firmly.  While  not  spoken  of  as  sins, 
they  should  not  be  commended  as  if  they  were 
magnificent  virtues.  If  we  cannot  argue,  we  can 
at  least  in  our  own  humble  and  gentle  way  show 
what  the  Bible  has  taught  us,  and  what  Jesus  has 
done  for  us.  The  Christian's  life,  as  an  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  revealed  religion,  is  worth  more 
than  all  the  folios  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 
"  Come  and  see  a  man  which  told  me  all  things 
that  ever  I  did  :  is  not  this  the  Christ  ?  " 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  how  needful 
and  blessed,  in  hours  of  personal  sorrow,  is  the 
felt  sympathy  of  a  friend.  Felt,  I  say,  for 
often  it  is  premature  to  speak  and  intrusive  to 
write.  People  who  don't  know  are  apt,  by  way 
of  excusing  themselves  for  negligence,  to  allege 
that  sympathy  at  such  times  has  no  real  value. 


■  THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"      287 

Little  they  know  about  it.  The  poor,  broken 
heart  may  make  no  sign,  pen  no  thanks,  send 
no  message,  but  it  feels  the  kindness,  and  the 
kindness  soothes  if  it  may  not  heal  Whatever  Sympathy 
the  trouble  may  be,  to  know  that  friends,  and 
even  strangers,  are  entering  into  your  grief, 
praying  about  it  before  God,  thinking  how  they 
can  help  you,  impatient  for  the  moment  when 
they  may  begin  to  try,  is  a  comfort  that  goes 
down  into  the  very  depth  of  the  wound  and 
takes  its  healing  there.  A  child's  sin,  the 
going  out  of  a  life,  which  for  years  to  come 
seems  to  blot  the  sun  out  of  the  sky,  an  in- 
terrupted duty  as  dear  as  life  itself,  a  protracted 
sickness  which,  such  are  the  subtle  cruelties  of 
human  nature,  has  a  knack  of  making  people  who 
have  never  been  ill  themselves  impatient  and 
rough,  and  even  unkind,  need  sympathy,  and 
stir  an  unspeakable  and  tender  gratitude  when 
it  is  given.  Jesus  knew  how  to  give  it.  He 
wept  before  He  raised  His  friend,  and  that  raising 
cost  Him  His  life. 

Here,  again,  we  must  premise  that  true 
sympathy  has  nothing  morbid  or  softening  about 
it.  It  braces,  while  it  sighs  ;  it  points  to  Christ, 
instead  of  leaning  on  man.  It  means  great  ten- 
derness and  wise  discrimination,  the  choice  of  oc- 
casion and  of  the  method  of  comfort.  If  it  means 
tact  and  skill,  it  also  means  courage  and  power. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  say  other  things  about 
sympathy,    or    some    may    be   disappointed    and 


288  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

others  be  even  paralysed.  No  doubt  there  are 
some  people  in  whom  it  is  a  born  instinct  ;  so  to 
speak,  it  is  neither  hard  for  them  nor  eas}'.  It 
is  a  matter  of  course,  for  it  is  a  part  of  them- 
selves. Yet,  even  in  them,  it  needs  educating 
and  disciplining  by  experience.  This  is  what  is 
meant,  when  it  is  said  of  our  Lord  that  "  though 
He  were  a  Son,  yet  learned  He  obedience  by 
the  things  which  He  suffered;"  and  again, 
"  We  have  not  an  High  Priest  which  cannot  be 
touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmities,  but  was 
tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are,  yet  without 
sin." 
The  need  of  Then  let  us  be  careful  how,  with  the  best 
experience.  meanmg  possible,  we  express  sympathy  with 
troubles  and  losses  of  which  we  have  no  sort 
of  personal  knowledge  ;  thereby,  it  may  be, 
making  our  kindly  intended  consolations  clumsy, 
ludicrous,  or  even  painful.  Let  us  leave  it  to 
those  who  do  know  what  they  are  doing,  and  so 
avoid  the  danger  of  making  a  second  wound  in 
our  attempt  to  heal  the  first.  An  earnest  inter- 
cession to  God  that  He  will  comfort  as  only  He 
knows  how,  must  be  safe,  must  also  be  helpful. 
Inquiry,  or  a  message,  or  some  simple  act  of 
kindness,  will  convey  the  thing  you  wish  to 
express.  The  gathering  years  quickly  bring 
their  teaching  with  them.  Let  us  wait  till  we 
are  taught.  Not  every  duty  is  laid  on  any  man. 
Once  more,  no  quality  of  the  soul,  when  it  is 
genuine    and    ripe   and   wise,    is    so    gratefully 


■'THINGS  WHICH  C  INNOT  BE   MOVED"      2S9 

accepted,  so  tenderly  cherished,  so  lavishly 
repaid,  as  this  grace  of  sympathy  ;  and  it  does 
not  need  money,  talent,  cleverness — only  the 
presence  of  love.  The  love  of  God  and  the  love 
of  man  react  upon  each  other.  But  while  it  is 
true  that  we  love  God,  because  He  first  loved 
us,  and  has  told  us  so,  whereas  we  can  love 
each  other  without  any  conscious  love  of  God, 
or  even  the  knowledge  that  He  exists,  the 
highest,  sweetest,  fullest,  truest,  usefullest,  and 
most  enduring  love  can  transfigure  and  fill  the 
soul  only  when  the  love  of  God  is  shed  abroad 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  Who  teaches 
us  to  see  something  of  God  in  every  man,  and 
to  see  in  man  the  most  precious  treasure  that 
God  can  own.  The  most  blessed  reward  that 
He  can  receive  will  mean  our  showing  love  to 
our  brother,  because  God  loves  him  ;  will  also 
mean  our  some  day  hearing  from  the  divine 
lips  before  the  universe,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  have 
done  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren, 
ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 


290  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

II 

PA  TIENCE 

Could  not  this  man,  which  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind,  have 
caused  that  even  this  man  should  not  have  died? — John 
si.  37. 

CURELY   there    is   no    need   to   suppose    that 
this  question  had  a  malevolent  purpose  with 
it.      No  doubt   it  shows  what  a  deep  impression 
the  miracle  to  which  it  refers  made  on  the  people 
of  Jerusalem  ;   and  it  also  perhaps  indicates  that 
the  two  former  acts  of  raising — that  of  the  widow's 
son,  and  that  of  the  daughter  of  Jairus — had  not 
yet  made   their  way  from  Galilee   to   the    metro- 
polis, or   their  surprise  would  have  been  greater 
still.      Moreover,  it  is  precisely  the  same  feeling 
which   underlies  the   utterances  of  the  bereaved 
sisters  :    "  Lord,   if  Thou    hadst    been   here  my 
brother    had    not    died."      Nevertheless,   it   is   a 
striking   commentary  on  that  quality  of  patience 
of  which  the  Bible  says  so  much,  and  which  we 
all    recognise   as    the    rarest    and    ripest   of  the 
Christian  virtues  ;   the  virtue  which    is   not    only 
the    occasional   ornament   of  sluggish     and    un- 
attractive natures,  but  is  the   strength  as  well  as 
the  beauty  of  saints.      For  it  is  not  grown   in   a 
day,  though  it  may  be   lost   in  a  moment  ;   with 


"THINGS  WHICH  CANN01    BE  MOVED1 

respect  to  it  the  apostle  writes  when  lie  makes  as 
his  ground  of  appeal  "  the  meekness  and  patience 

of    Christ."        First,    we     have    to    learil     patience  Patience 

with  the  delays  of  God  :  whether  in  fulfilling  our  delays. 
desires,  or  bestowing  the  comfort  <>f  I  lis  pr<  sence, 
or  healing  sickness,  or  overcoming  sin.  God 
can  wait,  wrote  a  great  Father,  for  lie  is  eternal. 
We,  on  the  contrary,  so  far  as  our  earthly  life  is 
concerned,  are  the  creatures  of  a  moment,  and 
feel  we  cannot  wait.  "  In  the  morning  it 
flourisheth  and  groweth  up  ;  in  the  evening  it  is 
cut  down,  and  withereth."  We  greatly  wish 
for  something,  and  the  swift  years  pass  on  until 
the  time  for  enjoying  it  is  past,  and  the  old 
eagerness  is  forgotten.  It  comes,  at  last,  but 
grey  hairs  have  come  with  it.  The  delay  has 
had  its  meaning,  which  we  shall  see  hereafter  ; 
but  the  hope  deferred  has  made  the  heart  sick. 
Then  there  arc  moments  when  to  feel  His  pre- 
sence, and  hear  His  voice,  and  taste  I  lis  love, 
and  anticipate  His  glory,  would  more  than  recom- 
pense us  for  bitter  pain,  or  the  tossings  of  long 
night  watches.  Yet  He  does  not  come,  nor  send, 
nor  speak,  nor  even  look  at  us  ;  though  we  have 
gone  to  Him  and  told  Him  how  we  trust  Him 
and  lie  humbly  at  His  feet. 

His  ways  and  times  of  consoling  arc  not 
always  the  same.  "  In  a  little  wrath  I  hid  My 
face  from  thee  for  a  moment  ;  for  a  small 
moment  have  I  forsaken  thee  ;  but  with  ever- 
lasting kindness  will  I  have  mere)-  on  thee,  saith 


292  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

the  Lord  thy  Redeemer."  Sickness  comes,  and 
to  some  of  us  it  is  no  new  thing,  we  have  been 
fighting  with  it  all  our  lives.  We  humbly  and 
earnestly  ask  that  we  may  recover,  for  life  is 
beautiful,  duty  is  noble,  opportunities  are  few, 
and  we  think  of  the  time  we  have  lost.  But  the 
Lord  seems  to  have  gone  to  the  other  side  of 
Jordan  ;  and  Jairus,  while  his  little  daughter  is  at 
the  very  point  of  death,  stands  by,  in  an  agony 
of  impatience,  compelled  to  spare  the  Lord  for  an 
afflicted  woman,  who  might  well  have  waited  till 
the  morrow. 
The  dis-  We  need  patience  for  the  disappointments  of 

appoiyit-         ,,_  ,  ,  ..  .  _        ,  .    , 

menisof  life  ;  not  least  those  disappointments  of  which 
we  have  no  need  to  be  ashamed  when  they  affect 
the  discharge  of  our  duty,  and  which  seem  even  to 
punish  us  for  doing  it.  What  Noah  suffered  while 
the  ark  was  preparing  in  preaching  righteousness 
to  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  generation,  who 
shall  tell  ?  What  Joseph  endured  when  thrown 
into  prison  and  tortured  by  the  thought  of  his 
master's  reasonable  displeasure,  the  Psalmist 
suggests  in  the  unique  expression,  "  the  iron 
entered  into  his  soul."  St.  Paul's  two  weary 
years  at  Caesarea,  followed  by  two  more  at  Rome, 
were  not  indeed,  as  we  see  them  at  a  distance,  in 
their  great  results  a  loss  of  time  in  a  life  worth 
so  much  to  the  world.  To  them  we  not  impro- 
bably owe  the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  the  Acts,  and 
the  Epistles  of  the  Imprisonment.  But  the  time 
was    slipping    by ;    he   was    getting    older  and 


•'THINGS  WHICH  C.INNOT  BE  MOVED"       293 

feebler.  Not  even  for  him  could  the  hands  be 
put  back  on  the  dial-plate.  God  seldom  repeats 
His  miracles. 

Almost  hardest  of  all,  the  Baptist's  career  was 
cut  short  by  the  malignity  of  a  wicked  woman  and 
the  caprice  of  a  cruel  girl,  which  hustled  him  into 
his  grave.  Let  us  learn  from  him,  that  if  we  are 
bent  on  doing  our  duty  we  must  be  prepared  to 
suffer  for  it.  The  day  of  vengeance  will  come, 
when  the  resentment  stirred  and  the  hope  of 
reprisals  nurtured  shall  have  their  full  satisfaction. 
But  we  will  take  our  punishment  quietly,  for  a  dis- 
tinction goes  with  it.  Never  to  suffer  for  doing 
our  duty  may  be  to  fail  in  doing  it  at  all. 

Over  the  mysteries  of  truth  we  must  learn  Tk 
patience,  for  there  are  limitations  to  our  faculty  Faith. 
of  comprehending  ;  and  circumstances  by  degrees 
will  help  us  to  understand,  as  well  as  the  ex- 
perience of  the  multiplying  years.  Perhaps  the 
most  precious  element  in  this  kind  of  patience 
is  readiness  to  wait,  for  we  know  our  dulness, 
and  we  can  trust  better  than  before  the  wisdom 
and  righteousness  of  God.  There  are  some 
mysteries  which  we  shall  never  understand  on 
this  side  of  death.  We  will  be  content  to  wait 
to  understand  them,  not  out  of  a  stolid  indiffer- 
ence, but  because  it  so  pleases  God.  There  arc 
others  about  which  we  have  glimpses  sufficient  to 
assure  us  that  there  is  a  key  to  them,  though  not 
sufficient  to  give  us  that  intellectual  satisfaction 
which,  in  the  day  when  we  see  as  we  are  seen,  shall 


294  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

have  its  full  and  njble  fulfilment.  There  are 
other  mysteries  which  are  little  by  little  emerging 
out  of  shadow  and  passing  into  light.  Once  they 
troubled  us  ;  now  they  trouble  us  no  longer.  The 
heart  sees  as  well  as  the  understanding.  "  Blessed 
are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see  God." 

Once  more,  there  is  patience  with  the  in- 
firmities of  our  brethren,  which  exist  notwith- 
standing their  excellence  ;  nay,  may  have  a  real 
connection  with  it ;  and  which  it  is  impossible  to 
mend,  irritating  to  endure,  useless  to  deplore,  and 
which,  no  doubt,  have  their  counterpart  in  our- 
selves. Some  friends  are  moral  blisters  ;  but, 
notwithstanding  the  blistering,  we  would  not  lose 
the  friendship.  There  is  no  need  to  go  into  par- 
ticulars. Who  does  not  know  what  is  meant  ? 
Besides,  there  is  no  occasion  to  do  so.  A  quiet 
sense  of  humour  is  a  great  help  to  equanimity  ; 
and  honest  love  is  the  best  thing  for  human  gnat- 
bites.  What  is  the  surest  test  of  patience  ? 
Self-control,  I  suppose  ;  shown  especially  in  the 
government  of  the  tongne  :  "If  any  man  offend 
not  in  word,  the  same  is  a  perfect  man,  and  able 
also  to  bridle  the  whole  body."  Silence  is  often 
the  supreme  virtue  to  keep  down  the  sharp  and 
biting  retort,  and  to  express  anger  without  violat- 
ing charity,  and  to  be  slow  in  finding  fault  with 
others,  and  to  have  a  sort  of  grand  reluctance  to 
explain  or  defend  ourselves.  We  are  the  temple 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  tongue  is  an  organ 
of  the  consecrated  body,  and  the  Judge  Himself 


"THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"      295 

has  i<ikl  us  that  by  our  words  we  shall  be  justi- 
fied, and  by  our  words  we  shall  be  condemned,  as 
if  speecb  was  life.  Let  tin's  be  tbc  aim  set  before 
us,  steadily  and  joyfully,  and  we  shall  have  our 
reward,  and  our  neighbour  edification. 

The  discipline  of  patience  is  sorrow.  "  Tribu- 
lation workcth  patience,"  saith  St.  Paul.  "  To 
knowledge  add  temperance,  and  to  temperance 
patience,"  inculcates  St.  Peter.  We  can  afford 
to  wait  for  things  when  we  have  learnt  by  experi- 
ence how  little  they  arc  worth  waiting  for  at  the 
best.  The  flail  of  affliction  beats  us  flat  and 
empties  us,  and  we  have  hardly  strength  to 
murmur.  God  and  our  own  soul  are  so  promi- 
nent and  absorbing,  that  other  things  come  and 
go  without  our  noticing  them.  The  heart  feels 
as  it  never  felt  before,  and  the  lesson  is  full  of 
patience.  "  The  world  passeth  away,  and  the 
lust  thereof;  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God 
abideth  for  ever." 

St.  James  writes  of  patience  as  the  top  stone 
of  Christian  perfection,  and  gives  Job  as  the 
supreme  instance  of  it.  "  Behold  we  count  them 
happy  which  endure.  Ye  have  heard  of  the 
patience  of  Job,  and  seen  the  end  of  the  Lord, 
that  the  Lord  is  very  pitiful,  and  of  lender 
mercy."  It  is  because  God  is  so  patient  with  us 
that  we  are  to  be  patient  with  Him  ;  and  to  be 
patient  with  Him  will  mean  to  be  patient  with 
each  other.  The  patient  soul  is  not  the  dull, 
stupid,  opaque  soul,  but  the  soul  which  has  been 


296  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

so  much  in  communion  with  God,  and  been  so 
closely,  searchingly,  tenderly  dealt  with  by  Him, 
that  it  can  say,  what  very  few  indeed  can  say 
honestly  and  intelligently,  even  in  the  thick 
darkness,  "  I  was  dumb,  I  opened  not  my 
mouth,  because  Thou  didst  it." 

The  end  of  all  things  shall  be  the  coronation 
day  of  patient  souls  ;  the  day  when  innocence 
shall  be  vindicated,  justice  satisfied,  and  unseen 
charity  have  its  glorious  recognition  from  the  lips 
of  the  Judge.  Then  the  Son  of  God  shall  come 
to  be  glorified  in  His  saints,  and  to  be  admired 
by  all  them  that  believe.  Be  patient,  therefore, 
"unto  the  coming  of  the  Lord."  There  will  be 
no  need  of  patience  afterwards.  "  They  shall 
hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more." 
"  There  the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and 
there  the  weary  are  at  rest."  The  strife  of 
tongues  will  no  longer  disturb  or  distract  us. 
The  poison  of  asps  will  be  under  none  of  the 
lips  which  have  learned  the  new  song.  If  we 
thought  more  of  the  joy  of  the  life  to  come,  and 
less  of  the  troubles  of  the  life  that  is  now,  in 
patience  we  should  possess  our  souls,  and  God 
Himself  would  be  our  exceeding  joy  ;  and  as  it 
was  with  Francis  d'Assisi  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  saintly  Fletcher  in  the  time  of  our 
fathers,  the  exceeding  weight  of  glory  that  is  just 
in  front  of  us  would  make  our  present  affliction 
light  and  short  indeed. 


"THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"      297 

III 
SACRIFICE 

Wilt  thou  lay  dawn  thy  lift  !<>r  My  stikc  .' — JOHN  xiii.  38. 

'"PI  IK  spirit  of  sacrifice  is  the  supreme  virtue 
of  our  religion.  The  habit  of  it  tests  its 
solidity,  the  motive  of  it  indicates  its  value.  It 
is  quite  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  Christ's  claim 
for  a  total  surrender  to  Him  invariably  acts  as  a 
hindrance  or  paralysis  to  devotion.  With  some 
natures,  and  at  certain  periods  of  life,  and  when 
the  heart  is  first  entranced  by  the  divine  sweet- 
ness, the  value  of  any  possession  consists  simply 
in  this,  that  we  can  give  it  or  use  it  for  Him. 
Nothing  goes  so  far  or  operates  so  quickly  to 
convince  the  world  outside  that  we  are  in 
earnest,  and  that  Christ  is  worth  everything  we 
can  do  or  suffer  for  His  cause,  as  the  radiance 
of  the  living  joy  which  inspires  a  transfigured 
heart  to  follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  He 
goeth.  The  martyrs  had  as  much  to  do  with 
the  victory  of  the  Cross  as  the  preachers  had. 
Suffering  was  even  more  potent  because  less 
liable  to  misconstruction  than  activity. 

But  it  is  not  only  of  the  sacrifices  which  (ire 
the  Church  with  joy  and  awe  the  world  into 
silence   that    I    want   to    write    now.       It    is    of 


298  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

something  much  humbler,  and  more  common- 
place, and  yet  perhaps  more  useful  for  our  daily 
modern  life,  that  I  would  suggest  some  prac- 
tical reflections.  Lofty  sacrifices  and  deaths  of 
agony  which  write  themselves  in  letters  of  fire 
on  the  memory  of  the  world  are  rare  and  within 
the  scope  of  few.  Nay,  heroic  as  they  are,  and 
seem  to  be  to  the  bulk  of  men  and  women,  they 
are  by  no  means  so  difficult  as  patient  continu- 
ance in  well-doing.  Mr.  Maclaren,  I  think,  has 
observed  somewhere  that  where  ten  might  be 
ready  quickly  and  sharply  to  die  for  Christ,  only 
one  would  consent  really  to  live  for  Him.  In 
the  passage  before  us  St.  Peter  offered  to  die 
for  Christ,  and  we  know  what  that  ended  in. 
His  duty  then  was  to  confess  Him  in  his  life  ; 
in  the  end  of  the  years  he  should  stretch  forth 
his  hands,  and  another  should  gird  him  and 
carry  him  whither  he  would  not. 

The  sacrifices  I  would  speak  of  now,  which 
no  one  can  evade  or  ignore,  but  which  show  the 
real  though  invisible  dividing  line  between  those 
who  are  scarcely  saved  and  those  who  shall  have 
an  abundant  entrance,  are  for  home  as  well  as 
abroad,  for  kinsfolk,  neighbours  and  friends,  as 
well  as  for  the  distant  heathen  ;  apparently  only 
for  man's  sake,  they  are  really  even  more  for 
Christ's  sake,  and  they  have  a  preciousness  in 
His  sight  which  will  surprise  us  when  we  see 
Him  as  He  is.  They  are  habits  rather  than 
isolated  acts,  the  offspring  more  often  of  a  strong, 


"THINGS   WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"       299 

resolute  sense  of  duty  than  of  an  enthusiasm 
which  at  first  blazes  so  fiercely  that  it  is  apt 
to  burn  itself  out,  and  then  a  fatal  chill  falls 
upon  the  soul.  Reaction  is  a  law  of  our  moral 
nature,  but  it  is  as  perilous  as  it  is  inevitable. 
What  a  gulf,  though  soon  traversed,  we  sec 
between  Simon  Peter  smiting  the  servant  of  the 
high  priest  and  hotly  affirming,  an  hour  after- 
wards, "  I  know  not  the  man  !  " 

Let  me  give  some  concrete  and  quite  familiar 
illustrations  of  the  operation  of  this  spirit  of 
sacrifice  in  the  often  homely  task  of  diminishing 
the  temptations  and  elevating  the  moral  sense, 
and  regulating  the  habits  and  guiding  the  reli- 
gion of  our  neighbours.  It  is  only  the  spirit 
and  motive  of  sacrifice  which  will  justify  them 
as  reasonable  or  even  tolerable.  Apart  from 
Christ,  and  simply  as  a  new  sort  of  self-display, 
they  become  an  arrogant  and  burdensome 
tyranny.        First,    there    is    the    much    debated 

question   (can   it   be  debated   too  much?)  of  the 

M  r    .  .  ,.  .-,  .       .         '      ,  .         The  use  ef 

use  of  intoxicating  liquors.       I  his    is  a  subject  intoxi- 

on  which  an  honest  and  fearless  thinker  is  very  cjjiunfrSM 

apt  to  fall   between  two  stools,  and  he  must  not 

be   too   much   troubled    if    he    does.      Never  to 

stand   alone,  means   never  to   be   a    witness   for 

Christ.      That  to  make,  or  sell,  or  in  moderation 

use   such   things,  is  to  defy   God   and   to   tempt 

man    is    a    baseless    and    mischievous    paradox. 

Shall   we  cast   a   slur  on    the    spotless   Saviour, 

Who  first  manifested  Mis  glory  in  the  turning  of 


300  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

water  into  wine,  presumably  for  the  enjoyment 
of  His  fellow-guests  ;  Who  was  Himself  called 
a  wine-bibber,  and  took  no  pains  to  deny 
the  fact,  though  He  observed  the  inconsistency 
of  the  accusation  ;  Who  in  ordaining  the  blessed 
sacrament  which  is  to  us  at  once  the  memorial 
of  His  death,  the  promise  of  His  return,  the 
vehicle  of  His  presence  to  the  faithful,  and  the 
spiritual  communion  of  those  who  feed  on  Him 
there,  deliberately  ordained  wine  as  one  of  the 
elements  of  the  Eucharistic  feast  ?  If  it  is  lawful 
to  use  it,  it  must  be  lawful  both  to  make  and  to 
sell  it.  What  we  should  inexorably  press  is  the 
prevention  of  adulteration,  the  diminution  of 
perilous  facilities,  the  curtailing  of  the  hours  of 
sale,  the  protection  of  young  girls  and  children 
from  public-houses,  and  the  steady  and  reason- 
able temperate  education  of  public  opinion. 

"  Am  I  not  free  ?  "  once  asked  St.  Paul.  So 
might  Christians  say  now.  Though  at  the  pre- 
sent moment  English  society  betrays  no  sign  of 
being  infected  with  either  Manicheism  or  asce- 
ticism, it  is  natural  and  even  equitable  to  decline 
to  have  our  liberty  snatched  from  us  at  the  point 
of  the  bayonet.  "  Why  should  I  be  judged  by 
another  man's  conscience  ?  "  "  Every  man  shall 
give  account  of  himself  to  God."  But  liberty  is 
a  large  word  ;  and  if  I  am  free  to  use  these 
things,  I  am  free  not  to  use  them ;  and  if  to 
cherish  liberty  for  my  own  sake  is  a  good  thing, 
to   surrender  it   for  my   brother's    sake   may  be 


'THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED1'       301 

better.  I  will  not  judge  my  brother  because  he 
uses  these  things  temperately,  but  he  shall  nol 
prevent  me  (he  may  despise  me  if  he  pleases) 
from  giving  up  a  small  indulgence  if  it  helps  me 
to  put  out  a  long  and  a  strong  arm  to  snatch  out 
of  the  deep  waters  a  poor  drowning  soul,  which 
sympathy  and  kindness  and  quick  effort  may, 
with  God's  blessing,  rescue  and  restore.  We 
will  not  praise  ourselves  for  what  we  do,  nor 
flaunt  it  in  the  world's  face,  nor  think  to  convince 
or  persuade  by  any  other  method  than  reason 
and  truth  blessed  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  But  let 
us  remember  that  if  men  are  to  be  left  to  die 
because  they  deserve  it,  and  we  will  do  nothing 
to  save  them  because  they  have  no  claim  on  us, 
and  we  defend  our  contention  as  reasonable  and 
just,  how  can  we  explain  the  mystery  of  the 
Incarnation,  which  had  its  exemplary  as  well  as 
atoning  value  ?  How  do  we  expect  to  escape 
the  reproach  in  one  of  the  most  terrible  of  all  our 
Lord's  parables,  "  O  thou  wicked  servant,  I  for- 
gave thee  all  that  debt  because  thou  desiredst  me. 
Shouldst  not  thou  also  have  compassion  on  thy 
fellow-servant,  even  as  I  had  pity  on  thee  ?  " 

Another  opportunity  for  the  exercise  of  this  The  drama. 
spirit  of  sacrifice  (I  tread  on  ashes  over  living 
fire)  is  in  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  drama. 
Let  us  frankly  make  some  admissions  which 
justice  and  observation  and  common-sense  may 
perhaps  make  us  more  than  willing  to  make. 
The}'  ought  to  be  made,  and  to  make  them   may 


302  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

be  of  service.  There  is  a  dramatic  instinct  in 
human  nature,  delightfully  perceptible  even  in  a 
little  child,  which  presumably,  like  other  instincts, 
was  deliberately  placed  there  by  the  all-wise 
Creator,  and  which,  under  suitable  conditions,  is 
meant  to  be  cultivated  and  indulged.  In  classical 
times  the  drama  was  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  the  education  of  the  people  through  its 
appeal  to  the  imagination  and  the  historic  sense 
and  the  conscience.  It  may  be  urged  further 
that  there  is  no  conceivable  reason  why  it  should 
not  become  so  again.  A  jaded  and  harassed 
man  of  business  going  to  see  a  play  in  the 
evening  becomes  pleasantly  transported  into  a 
new  world,  forgets  the  anxieties  of  the  morning, 
drops  for  an  hour  or  two,  as  if  he  was  stripping 
off  his  garments,  the  burdens  and  vexations  of 
the  day.  Kings,  statesmen,  the  learned  profes- 
sions, and  not  a  few  of  the  working  class,  both 
seek  and  find  their  recreation  there.  Men  must 
have  their  recreation  ;  and  the  Church  will  do  well 
to  remember  that  one  of  the  most  important  points 
in  the  training  and  government  of  a  nation  is  the 
supply  of  cheap,  abundant,  and  wholesome  re- 
creation ;  and  without  dispute,  in  the  long  winter 
nights  the  place  where  it  ought  to  be  found  is  a 
cheap  and  wholesome,  well-conducted  theatre. 
Some  of  us  indeed  can  go  so  far  as  to  say  dis- 
tinctly that  in  our  judgment  no  enjoyment  comes 
near  to  the  drama  for  its  exhilarating  and  recu- 
perative power. 


•THINGS   WHICH  CANNOT  BE   MOVED"      30.5 

But  the  question  is,  Can  it  he  right  for  us  as 
Christians  to  go  there  ourselves,  when,  notwith- 
standing the  efforts  of  the  cultivated  and  high- 
spirited   artists  who  now  preside  over  the  stage, 

and  whose  sincerity  of  purpose  in  elevating  and 
purifying  we  have  every  desire  to  recognise,  the 
ballet  dancing,  the  tone,  the  atmosphere,  the 
allusions,  the  occasional  coarsenesses  it  is  im- 
possible for  us  to  encourage,  with  any  sense  of 
responsibility  for  others,  by  our  presence  and 
example  ?  It  is  not  that  we  want  an  unmixed 
Puritanism  back  again.  Charles  II.  and  the 
dramatists  of  the  Restoration  were  a  terrible 
price  to  pay  for  Cromwell  and  Milton.  While 
we  presume  to  pass  judgment  on  no  one  who 
frequents  the  theatre  ;  while  we  cheerfully  admit 
that  Shakespeare's  plays,  acted  as  the)-  are  acted 
now,  are  of  educational  as  well  as  recreative 
value  ;  while  we  hope  for  the  time  when  a  purified 
drama  not  confined  to  the  greatest  of  English 
poets  may  become  the  safe  and  elevating  resource 
of  all  Englishmen,  clergy  and  laity,  young  and 
old  ;  nay,  while  we  will  do  what  wc  can,  each  in  his 
own  way,  to  help  that  time  on,  the  time  has  not 
yet  come  when  it  would  be  prudent  for  those  who 
dislike  the  tone  of  the  modern  theatre  themselves 
to  frequent  it  in  the  hope  of  mitigating  or  removing 
its  evils.  The  Church  would  only  become  more 
worldly  and  society  more  immoral.  "  All  things 
are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  are  not  expedient." 


304  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

u  Happy   is   he  that   condemneth   not  himself  in 
that  thing  which  he  alloweth." 
Sunday  Once  more,  there  is  the  increasingly  important 

observance.  questjon  0f  Sunday  observance.  Some  things 
are  quite  clear  about  this  almost  greatest  of 
subjects  ;  other  things  not  so  clear.  To  set 
apart  one  day  in  the  week  for  relaxation  from 
business,  for  domestic  intercourse,  for  bodily  rest, 
for  contemplation  of  the  things  which  are  not 
seen  and  are  eternal,  is  agreeable  to  the  will  of 
God,  is  inferentially  imposed  by  the  Fourth  Com- 
mandment, is  the  charter  of  the  artisan's  security, 
is  that  which  more  than  anything  else,  to  borrow 
a  striking  expression  of  Bishop  Temple,  keeps 
us  in  touch  with  God.  It  is  also  clear  that  it  is 
not  on  identical  lines  with  the  Jewish  Sabbath, 
that  our  Lord  left  us  no  rules  about  it,  and  that 
it  is  a  matter  in  which  every  Christian  man,  ac- 
cording to  his  light  and  knowledge,  must  be  a 
law  to  himself.  On  the  exercise  of  this  law  I 
would  suggest  one  last  word.  Let  us  not  use  all 
our  liberty  merely  because  it  is  ours,  if  so  to  use 
it  would  scandalise  or  injure  our  neighbour.  Let 
us  not  suppose  that  what  is  harmless  to  us  must 
be  harmless  to  others.  Most  of  all,  let  us  re- 
member that  the  one  end  of  it  is  the  worship  of 
God  and  the  edification  of  the  personal  soul,  and 
that  the  law  holds  good  here  as  elsewhere,  the 
law  of  sacrifice.  "  We  then  that  are  strong 
ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak,  and  not 
to  please  ourselves." 


"THINGS  WHICH  CANN01   BE  MOVED"      305 

Sacrifice,  if  hard  at  first — and  this  it  must 
often  be — will  grow  easier,  and  even  sweeter, 
through  being  practised.  "  I  will  run  the  way 
of  Tli}'  commandments  when  Thou  hast  enlarged 
my  heart."  The  love  of  Christ,  the  joy  of  service 
for  Him,  the  unspeakable  honour  of  bringing  but 
one  soul  to  His  feet,  or  of  preventing  one  from 
leaving  its  place  there,  shall  all  go  to  make  His 
yoke  easy  and  His  burden  light. 


IV 
REVERENCE 

W'Jio  art    Thou,   Lord.' — Acts  i.\.  5. 

T  T  has  been  observed  that   three  qualities  re- 
present the  main  conditions  of  a   "complete 
effective  human   life,"   and  that    reverence  is  one 
of  them. 

Reverence — if  we  may  venture,  though  with 
much  diffidence,  to  define  it — is  the  habitual, 
almost  instinctive  recognition  of  a  goodness 
which  it  cannot  emulate  ;  of  a  wisdom  which  it 
cannot  fathom  ;  of  an  almighty  power  which  fills 
the  soul  with  unspeakable  awe,  yet  of  a  love 
which  in  its  inexpressible  tenderness  passeth 
knowledge.  It  is  the  strongest  as  well  as  the 
deepest  souls  that  arc  fullest  of  reverence  ;   it  is 

u 


306  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

also  they  who  know  most,  and  love  best,  who  are 
readiest  to  say, 

Let  knowledge  grow  from  more  to  man-, 
But  more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell, 

That  mind  and  will  according  well, 
May  make  one  music  as  before, 

But  vaster. 

Reverence,  in  a  sentence,  is  created  and  sus- 
tained by  the  constant  thought  of  God,  which 
helps  us  not  so  much  to  go  in  and  out  of  His 
presence,  as  ever  to  stand  in  it,  with  heart  and 
mind  and  feet  and  eyes  veiled,  lest  His  glory 
smite  them.  Reverence,  which,  while  it  re- 
strains the  lips,  feeds  the  fire  within  of  holy  and 
even  rapturous  meditation,  is  slow  to  promise, 
but  does  not  perform  less  for  its  not  promis- 
ing, and  invisibly  moulds  the  highest  and  finest 
type  of  character  the  Church  can  ever  see  on 
earth. 

The  scope  of  reverence  is  fourfold  :  in  our 
daily  common  life ;  in  the  doing  of  Christian 
service  ;  in  the  enduring  of  trouble  ;  in  the  offer- 
ing of  worship.  In  each  of  these  departments 
of  our  existence  we  should,  again  and  again,  with 
all  his  sincerity,  if  with  none  of  his  bewilder- 
ment, humbly  put  the  apostle's  question,  "Who 
art  Thou,  Lord  ?  "  Then  all  our  life  through, 
with  more  or  less  imperfectness  and  lack  of  con- 
tinuity, His  promise  will  be  felt  to  be  fulfilled  to 
us,    "  My  presence  shall  go  with   thee   and   give 


"THINGS   WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED''      307 

thee  rest";    and   our   hearts'   adoration    to   Him 
shall  be  in  the  words  we  all  love  : 

Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  though  the  darkness  hide  Thee, 
Though  the  eye  of  sinful  man   Thy  glory  may  //.> 

Only   Thou  art  holy,  there  is  none  beside    Thee, 
Perfect  in  powir,   in  love  and  purity. 

In  daily  life,  with  its  secular  activities,  its 
pleasant  companionships,  its  sudden  and  some- 
times critical  vicissitudes,  and  its  swoops  of  temp- 
tation on  the  will,  nothing  so  exalts,  steadies, 
dignifies  us,  as  the  thought  of  the  nearness  of 
God.  To  fear  God  is  quite  a  distinct  thing 
from  feeling  terror  of  Him.  Mow  can  we  be 
terrified  at  one  Who  we  know  loves  us,  and 
Whom  we  constantly,  though  with  a  deep  sense 
of  shortcoming,  desire  to  love  in  return  ?  A 
somewhat  inexact  way  of  talking  is  prone  to 
dwell  on  our  being  on  the  way  to  Heaven  ;  and 
it  is  quite  true  that  an  apostle  cheers  us  "  by  the 
hope  that  is  laid  up  for  us  in  Heaven."  So  far  as 
Heaven  is  to  be  understood  as  a  locality,  "  where 
faith  is  lost  in  sight,  and  patient  hope  is  crowned, 
and  everlasting  light  its  glory  throws  around," 
the  expression  is  correct.  But  in  a  very  real 
and  exalted  sense,  we  are  in  Heaven  now, — 
"the  Hcavenlies,"  as  St.  Paul  so  often  describes 
them.  The  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
did  not  conceive  himself  to  be  holding  up  a  future 
promise,  so  much  as  declaring  a  present  reality, 
when  he  wrote   to  his  troubled   brethren,   "  Ye 


3o8  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

are  come  unto   Mount  Zion,  and   to  the  city  of 
the  living  God,  the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  and  to  an 
innumerable   company  of  angels,  to  the  general 
assembly  and  church  of  the  first-born  which  are 
written  in  Heaven,  and  to  God,  the  judge  of  all, 
and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
unto  Jesus,  the  mediator  of  the  New  Covenant." 
We  are  there   now,  though  the   limitations  of 
the    body   make    an    impenetrable    barrier    that 
debars  us  of  the  sensible  fruition  of  all  that  glory 
and  joy.      We  cannot  hear  the  fluttering  of  the 
angels'    wings,   nor   watch    the    greeting    of  the 
saints  as  they  walk  under  the  tree   of  life,  nor 
hear  the   harpers  harping   upon   their  harps,  nor 
catch  the  strain  of  the  new  song  from  the  lips  of 
the   hosts   of  the  redeemed.      But  it  is  all  there 
for   us  to   see.  when  we   are  ready.      Death  will 
not  so  much   take   us   there,  as   do  for  us  what 
Elisha  did  for  his  servant  Jothan,  open  our  eyes 
that  we  may  see  what  has  been  all  round  us  for 
years.      This  being  so,  how  the  thought  of  our 
citizenship    in    that    glorified    society,    and    our 
place  in  the  rest  that  remaineth  for  the  people  of 
God,  should  help  us   to  walk   in   the   commonest 
acts  of  our  life,  worthily  of  the  vocation  wherein 
we  are  called  !      We  are  on   earth,  and  we  must 
fulfil  the  duties  and  taste  the  joys  of  earth.      But 
we  are  also  in  Heaven,  and  there  need  be  no  in- 
consistency between   the   two.      It  will   take  the 
edge  off  the  keenest  disappointment  to  remember 
that  our  treasure  is  in  Heaven.      The  occasional 


•THINGS   WHICH  CANNOT  BE  MOVED"      369 

sadness  that  comes  with  the  recollection  of  the 
shortening"  years  should  be  chased  away  by  the 
feeling  that  we  are  a  day's  march  nearer  home. 

To  say  again  and  again  to  ourselves,  "  Be- 
loved, now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  doth 
not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know 
that  when  He  shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  Him, 
for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is,"  softens  the 
annoyances  of  life,  and  smooths  its  frictions,  and 
widens  its  horizon,  and  on  the  dullest  homes,  as 
well  as  on  the  most  commonplace  duties,  brings 
the  splendour  of  the  eternal  day. 

In  the  service  which  from  time  to  time  He 
permits  us  to  do  for  Him,  it  helps  us  to  reve- 
rence, and  exactness,  and  fidelity,  and  diligence, 
to  remember  that  the  Master's  eye  is  upon  us, 
that  He  has  given  us  our  work,  and  will  pay  us 
our  wages  ;  that  He  is  full  of  kindness  and  con- 
sideration, not  repelling  us  because  our  motives 
are  sometimes  mixed,  not  taking  it  too  ill  of  us 
If  we  wish  to  do  the  best  we  can,  where  it  is  to 
be  done  best.  It  will  keep  us  from  being  too 
much  elated  by  man's  praise,  or  cast  down  by 
his  censure.  We  bow  our  heads  and  hold  our 
peace,  and  wait. 

In  the  sorrows  of  life  how  reverence  helps  us,  Help  in 
how  beautiful,  how  edifying,  how  sustaining,  yet s" 
how  hard  it  is  !      Take  illness,  of  which  most  of 
us  know  something.      It  is   a  great  trial,  it  may 
also  be  an  unspeakable  blessing.      When  it  takes 
from  us  the  duties  we  love,  even  to  the  extent  of 


310  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

indefinitely  postponing  them ;  when  it  brings 
with  it  sharp  pain,  with  much  sorrow  and  alarm 
to  those  we  love,  who  can  only  watch  us  and  pray 
for  us  ;  when  even  doubts  distract  us,  and  the 
tempter  puts  it  into  our  heart  to  ask,  "What  is 
it  we  have  done,  that  we  are  so  sorely  punished  ?  " 
reverence  helps  us  to  see  God  not  only  near,  but 
all  round  us,  clasping  us  in  the  everlasting  arms. 
We  do  not  care  to  search  for  second  causes  ;  of 
these  there  are  always  enough  and  to  spare.  The 
great  first  cause  is  enough  :  "  It  is  the  Lord,  let 
Him  do  what  seemeth  Him  good."  Some  may 
even  have  known  what  it  means  to  be  on  the 
very  threshold  of  the  invisible  land.  The  flutter 
of  the  angels'  wings  ready  to  take  us  away  was 
almost  audible  ;  and  as  through  gently  opening 
doors  a  distant  strain  came  near  as  of  one  of  the 
songs  of  Zion.  Those  who  stood  by  watched  to 
see  us  pass,  and  all  seemed  to  be  just  over.  But 
we  were  called  back,  and  we  live,  for  our  task  is 
not  yet  finished. 

Yet  for  weeks  and  months  there  rested  an  awe 
over  our  spirits,  as  on  those  who  have  been 
fetched  in  to  see  the  Lord  ;  an  awe  which  we 
would  not  lose  too  soon,  for  it  makes  the  Saviour, 
Who  has  tasted  death  and  conquered  it,  unspeak- 
ably and  blessedly  near. 

Once  more,  in  worship,  how  reverence  helps 
us,  and  helps  others  !  I  do  not  mean  an  osten- 
tatious exhibition  of  bodily  reverence,  which  to 
some    minds   is  even   disturbing,  but  the   bowed 


••THINGS   WHICH  CAN  NO!    BE    MOVED"       \\\ 

knee;  the  face  covered  with  reverent  hands  ;  the 
lips  resonant  with  praise  ;  the  intelligent  spirit 
eagerly  drinking  in  the  Gospel  of  its  salvation. 
Think  how  reverent  and  solemn  and  yet  ardent 
the  worship  in  Heaven  must  he  !  Letus honour 
God,  and  help  His  Church  by  making  ours  so 
now. 

Once  more,  reverence,  to  he  acceptable  to  God  Reverence 
and  complete  in  itself,  includes  reverence  of  our- 
selves. Self-respect  is  not  self-conceit  ;  it  is 
only  the  rightful  measure  of  a  soul  which  has 
been  thought  worthy  to  be  redeemed  by  the  blood 
of  the  Son  of  God,  and  whose  name  is  written  in 
Heaven.  "  What,  know  ye  not  that  ye  are  the 
temple  of  God,  and  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwellcth 
in  you  ?"  Joseph's  answer  is  good  and  fitted  for 
us  all.  How  can  I  do  this  sin  against  God,  when 
I  am  His  adopted  child,  and  share  His  very 
nature  ?  It  means  reverence  for  the  famil}'  ;  a 
reverence  which  should  show  itself  in  restrained 
speech,  in  judicious  kindness,  and  in  sagacious 
discipline.  When  we  think  what  a  making  there 
is  in  every  child,  what  innate  capacities,  what 
inherited  infirmities,  what  manifold  temptations, 
what  great  opportunities  must  more  or  less  be  in 
store  for  him,  how  can  we  refuse  the  kindness  of 
helping  him  a  little  on  his  way,  and  of  removing 
from  his  path  the  stones  over  which  he  might 
stumble  ? 

It  means  reverence  for  the  poor.      Their  hard- 
ships, their  difficulties,  their  necessities  are  greater 


312  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

than  we  think  of.  They  deserve  our  respect  and 
our  courtesy,  as  well  as  the  justice  which  the  law 
gives  them.  Jesus  was  poor  ;  the  poor  are 
especially  His  kinsfolk. 

It  means  reverence  for  the  sorrowful,  and  the 
disappointed,  and  the  dying.  We  cannot  as  yet 
know  or  fathom  the  tremendous  meaning  of  life, 
or  the  account  we  shall  have  to  give  of  it,  or  the 
reward  we  shall  one  day  receive  for  the  things 
done  in  it. 

Every  human  soul  has  something  of  the  nature 
of  God  left  in  it.  About  every  human  soul  we 
may  safely  say,  we  shall  do  well  to  remember, 
there  is  room  for  it  in  the  heart  of  God. 

Finally,  let  us  have  reverence  even  for  the 
straying,  and  tempting,  and  sinful.  We  may 
find  it  our  duty  to  rebuke  them  with  stern  words, 
but  so  long  as  there  is  life  there  is  hope  ;  and 
the  way  both  to  hope  and  to  save  is  to  love.  In 
revering  them,  at  least  in  being  willing  to  see 
what  is  good  in  them,  we  only  do  what  the  Lord 
Himself  did,  what  we  too  must  do,  if  we  would 
have  our  part  in  His  work  of  salvation.  To 
despise  man  is  to  despise  God.  To  despair  of 
man  is  to  dishonour  God.  We  are  none  of  us 
able  to  throw  many  stones  at  each  other ;  we 
have  sins  enough  of  our  own,  from  which  only 
Christ's  blood  can  wash  us  into  perfect  whiteness. 
"  Such  were  some  of  you,  but  ye  are  washed, 
ye  are  justified,  ye  are  sanctified  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God." 


'THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT  BE   MOVED" 

V 
HOPE 


And  now,  0  Lord,  what  is  my  hop,'  truly  my  hup,-  is 
in   1 ln\ ■■.     Ps.  \ 


"\A7"HEN  Paul  wrote  about  hope  that  we  arc 
"  saved  "  by  it,  he  announced  not  onl}- 
the  experience  of  an  individual,  but  the  history 
of  a  nation.  Bishop  Butler's  greatest  successor 
in  the  Chair  of  Durham  has  pointed  out,  with 
that  rare  admixture  of  historical  research  and 
spiritual  insight  which  characterised  him,  that 
the  history  of  Israel  is  a  scries  of  crushed  hopes 
to  become  presently  splendid  successes,  and  of 
disastrous  defeats  which  were  to  result  in  the 
salvation  of  the  world.  Egypt,  Babylon,  Rome — 
what  memories  of  agony  and  shame  these  terrific 
names  must  have  stirred  in  the  hearts  of  God's 
chosen  people  !  Hard  must  it  have  been  for  the 
poor  brick-makers  under  Pharaoh,  or  for  the  melan- 
choly captives  by  Euphrates,  or  for  the  Jewish 
patriots  sold  into  a  brutal  slavery,  when  Titus  had 
laid  Jerusalem  in  the  dust,  to  dare  to  hope  again, 
whether  for  liberty,  or  happiness,  or  faith.  Yet 
each  of  these  overwhelming  tribulations  was 
turned  by  the  good  hand  of  God  into  an  occa- 
sion of  eventual  and  mighty  blessing.     Certainly 


314  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

but  for  the  Roman  ploughshares  levelling  the 
streets  of  Zion  the  little  Hebrew  society  con- 
fessing the  name  of  Jesus  would  never  have 
grown  into  the  mighty  Catholic  Church. 

Let  us  meditate  for  a  moment  or  two  on  hope. 
Hope  is  not  only  a  privilege,  but  a  duty  ;  not 
only  a  gift,  but  a  reward  ;  not  only  a  feature  of 
natural  character,  but  a  grace  of  the  indwelling 
Spirit  ;  not  only  an  ornament  of  saintliness  and 
a  test  of  manhood,  but  the  strength  of  Jesus 
and  the  perfection  of  God.  For  St.  Paul  goes 
so  far  as  to  call  God  Himself  "  the  God  of 
Hope  "  ;  Who  not  only  inspires  hope  in  us,  but 
Who  is  Himself  inspired  by  it  (to  speak  as  a 
man)  in  His  government  and  redemption  of  the 
world  ;  and  he  asked  God  for  his  Roman 
brethren,  as  the  one  end  of  their  being  filled  with 
joy  and  peace  in  believing,  that  they  might 
"  abound  in  hope,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost." 
Tin- object  There  are  many  and  divers  things  to  hope 
about  which  it  is  rightful  and  natural  to  hope 
about,  though  some  may  be  high  in  the  scale 
of  dignity  and  importance  and  others  of  com- 
paratively transient  and  personal  interest.  The 
young  are  right  to  hope  for  the  fulness  and 
completion  of  their  life.  It  is  in  their  nature  that 
they  should  do  so  ;  and  the  God  of  nature  frowns 
not  on  the  workmanship  of  His  hands.  Thoughts 
and  wishes  and  plans  which  cannot  without  loss 
of  dignity  be  breathed   even   into  a  friend's  ear, 


of  hope 


-THINGS  WHICH  CANN01   BE  MOVED"       315 

may  be  taken  to  the  footstool  of  Him  Who  calls 
1  [imself  the  God  of  all  the  families  of  Israel,  ami 
Who  knoweth  the  things  we  have  need  of  before 
we  ask  Him.  We  are  justified  further  in  hoping 
about  the  duties  of  life  and  the  opportunities  of 
service.  When  we  arc  conscious  of  capacity, 
not  always  in  self-conceit,  and  of  experience, 
which  is  sometimes  more  useful  than  the  most 
brilliant  gifts  unballasted  by  actual  knowledge, 
we  may,  we  ought,  we  must,  hope  for  an  occasion 
of  using  them.  There  is  an  ambition  which  is 
but  a  selfish  eagerness  for  displaying  and  aggran- 
dising ourselves.  There  is  also  an  ambition 
which  is  indispensable  to  activity  and  essential 
to  the  onward  movement  of  the  world.  The 
great  thing  here  to  remember  is  that  promotion 
cometh  neither  from  the  cast,  nor  the  west,  nor 
yet  from  the  south.  "  God  is  the  Judge."  To 
push  ourselves  is  usually  to  defeat  ourselves. 
Also  let  us  notice  that  quiet  and  patient  con- 
tinuance in  well-doing  is  observed  by  God  and 
valued  by  man.  Then  again,  in  the  pressure  of 
grievous  calamity  of  whatever  kind,  a  cheerful, 
buoyant  spirit  not  only  helps  us  to  bear  it  while 
it  lasts,  and  enables  us  to  comfort  others,  who  in 
our  suffering,  themselves  suffer ;  but  occasionally 
it  helps  the  burden  to  disappear,  by  the  vital 
elasticity  it  imparts  to  the  entire  being. 

Then,  for  the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ 
and  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  over  all  the  world, 
hope,    and    a    strong     hope,     is     indispensable. 


316  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Where  would  St.  Paul  have  been  without  hope  ; 
or  where  any  of  the  great  pioneers  and  philan- 
thropists of  our  own  time  ?  Would  the  slave 
ever  have  been  free  but  for  the  glorious  hope 
that  burned  within  the  heart  of  William  Wilber- 
force  ?  What  kept  Mackay  at  Uganda  but  the 
profound  conviction  that  his  labour  was  not  in 
vain  in  the  world  ?  Cheerfulness,  which  is  hope 
in  expression,  is  the  one  indispensable  gift  for 
all  who  would  bring  the  dark  places  of  the  earth 
into  the  light  of  God.  Not  "  I  am  going  to  fail," 
but  "  Some  day  or  other  I  must  succeed,"  is 
the  only  watchword  that  tells.  Whether  in  the 
Sunday-school  or  from  the  pulpit,  by  the  sick- 
bed, or  in  the  close  and  searching  talk,  be  it 
the  printed  book  or  the  oral  message,  the  promise 
stands  sure,  and  let  us  hope  about  it  :  "  My 
word  shall  not  return  unto  Me  void,  but  it  shall 
accomplish  that  which  I  please,  and  prosper  in 
the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it." 
The  neces-  This  great  promise  indicates  some  further 
Tics  of  hope,  reflections  about  the  hope  that  is  to  be  cherished 
in  the  soul.  It  must  be  a  reasonable  hope.  The 
sick  do  not  always  recover,  for  it  is  given  to  all 
men  once  to  die  ;  and  we  must  not  pray  as  if 
there  was  no  such  thing  as  death,  or  as  if  useful 
careers  were  never  interrupted,  and  loss  and 
tribulation  had  ceased  to  be  the  lot  of  men.  It 
must  be  an  obedient  hope — that  is,  we  must  not 
hope  for  what  may  prove  inconsistent  with  the 
purpose  of  God,  and  contrary  to  His   holy  will. 


•'THINGS  WHICH  CANNOT.    BE  MOVED"       \VJ 

Everything  has   its   time   and    limitation.     The 

blood  of  the  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church. 
St.  Paul  would  not  have  left  Trophimus  at 
Milctum  sick  if  he  had  had  the  power  of  curing 
him.  It  must  be  a  believing  hope — that  is,  a 
hope  which  is  quite  confident  that  God  can  do 
what  is  asked  of  Him,  and  will  do  it  if  it  is  good 
that  it  should  be  done.  But  there  must  be  the 
conviction  that  He  knows  best,  and  so  there  is 
no  rebelliousness,  no  impatience  in  the  hope,  only 
a  strong  nature.  "  Thy  will  be  done  !  "  is  the 
prayer  that  lies  at  the  root  of  all  prayers.  For, 
once  more,  hope  must  be  a  spiritual  hope,  with 
the  one  aim  that  God  may  be  glorified,  and  we 
made  more  like  Him.  We  are  His  children, 
and  we  need  not  forget  that  He  loves  to  re- 
member us  ;  but  we  are  not  at  home  yet  in  the 
House  of  our  Father.  In  mairy  things  we 
cannot  help  being  ignorant,  and  so  praying 
ignorantly;  and  were  the  gifts  we  ask  for  always 
given  us,  they  would  disappoint  us,  even  harm 
us,  when  we  received  them,  and  the  eternal 
purpose  could  not  be  fulfilled  of  conforming  us 
to  the  image  of  Christ. 

The  hope  of  hopes,  the  promise  of  promises, 
the  joy  of  joys,  the  crown  of  crowns,  is  being 
with  Him,  where  He  is,  that  we  may  see  His 
glory.  If  Christians  in  their  daily  lives,  and 
useful  activities,  and  frequent  sorrows  would  but 
take  this  more  to  heart,  how  different  our  whole 
lives  would  be,  in  their  level   of  attainment   and 


318  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

in  their  interpretation  of  circumstances  !  The 
peace  of  God  would  rule  in  their  hearts,  and 
God  Himself  would  be  their  exceeding  joy.  It 
is  earthliness — an  immoderate  care  for  this  pre- 
sent life,  its  joys,  occupations,  and  possessions — 
that  makes  the  life  to  come,  not  the  prospect  to 
be  desired  and  contemplated,  so  much  as  to  be 
endured  and  accepted,  because  we  cannot  help 
ourselves.  Life  is  beautiful  and  desirable, 
chiefly  on  account  of  what  it  leads  to  and  edu- 
cates us  for.  But  what  will  it  be,  when  we  see 
God  face  to  face,  in  the  sinless,  tearless  land  ? 
Only  let  Christ  be  King  in  our  hearts,  and  our 
true  satisfaction  and  consolation  about  every- 
thing ;  the  Friend  on  whom  we  lean  without 
knowing  it  ;  the  Master  from  whom  we  take  our 
orders,  and  Who  has  given  each  of  us  our  task 
to  do.  When  that  is  done  He  will  send  for  us. 
Then  surely  we  should  have  an  unspeakable 
rest  flowing  into  us  :  we  should  cease  to  fear 
circumstances,  we  should  only  fear  to  miss  using 
and  interpreting  them  properly.  We  should  be 
always  hoping,  with  a  hope  that  never  makes 
ashamed  ;  and  our  joy  no  man  would  take  away. 
For  once  more  to  revert  to  a  thought  already 
expressed,  we  are  to  be  filled  with  joy  and  peace 
in  believing — that  we  may  abound  in  hope 
through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  What 
great  truths  are  here,  so  tersely  and  compactly 
bound  up  !  Joy  and  peace  in  believing  is  to  be 
our  normal  condition,  given  to  us  by  the  God  of 


•'THINGS  WHICH  CANN01   BE  MOVED"      319 

hope,  and  to  be  expected  and  enjoyed  not  as  an 
exceptional  privilege,  but  as  an  ordinary  bless- 
ing.     Tbc  object  of  this  is  that  we  ma}'  abound 
in    hope.      See  then,  what  stress  God  lays  on  it, 
how  important   Me  considers  it  ;   what  pains  He 
takes   to    produce    it    in    us  ;     what    loss   to   the 
Church,  and  to   our  duty,  and  to  ourselves  must 
accrue,  if  it   is  not  to  be  found  in  our  conversa- 
tion   and  life.      Hope,  we  see,  is  not  merely  the 
physical  accident    of  a    vigorous   and   sanguine 
constitution,  it  is  at  once  the   leverage  and   the 
test  of  a  soul  in   which  God  is  pleased  to  dwell. 
It  docs  not  spring  from   a  good  opinion  of  our- 
selves, or  from  any  undue  valuation  of  our  gifts 
and  powers,  or  from  the  praise  of  men  ;   it  is  the 
work    of  God   the   Holy    Ghost — "through    the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost" — whom  we  must  invite 
into  our  hearts  to  show  us  the  loveliness  and  the 
glory  of  Jesus  ;  and  to   bring  Him  to  dwell  there 
— Himself  the  hope  of  glory,  and  the  way  to  it. 
Hope,  hope,  oh  !  let  us  cultivate  it  more  ;   if  there 
is   much  to   mourn   over,  there   is    still    more   to 
hope  about.      The  world  is  not  the  devil's  world, 
it    is   God's   world.      The   world    is    not    lost,    it 
is  redeemed.      There   is   much  evil,  and  we  will 
not  make  light  of  it  ;   there  is  much  good,  and  we 
will  keep  it  to  breed  and  stir  more.      There  are 
better  times  coming,  let  us  hasten  their  coming, 
when  the  whole  creation,  travailing  and  burdened 
now,  shall   be  delivered  into  the  glorious  liberty 
of  the  children  of  God. 


THE     END 


"Judgment  is  a  re,  •elation  of  character.  Punishment  is  the 
unchecked  stream  of  consequences. — Whichcote,  quoted  by 
Bibhoo  Westcott. 


THE   DREAD  SURPRISE 
Who  is  this  t — Matthew  xxi.  10. 

WE  know  who  asked  this  question,  and  when 
it  was  asked,  and  what  gave  rise  to  it. 
It  was  not  a  question  for  that  place  only,  or  for 
that  age.  This  surely  may  be  claimed  for  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  it  is  impossible  to  treat 
His  claims  with  indifference,  as  if  they  were  of 
no  consequence,  or  to  defer  a  decision  upon  them, 
as  if  they  could  afford  to  wait.  By  every 
thinking  man  and  woman  under  the  sun,  since 
lie  disappeared  from  the  earth,  this  question 
has  been  eagerly  asked  when  tidings  have  come 
of  Him,  though  the  right  answer  is  not  always 
found  for  it,  even  by  those  who  trouble  them- 
selves to  find  it,  or  honestly  acted  upon  when 
found.  It  will  be  asked  once  more,  at  a  moment 
of  unspeakable  awe,  when  the  King  comes  back. 
"  Then  shall  appear  the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man 
in  Heaven,  and   then  shall  all   the   tribes  of  the 


j24  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

earth  mourn,  and  they  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man 
coming  in  the  clouds  of  Heaven  with  power  and 
great  glory.  And  He  shall  send  His  angels 
with  a  great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall 
gather  together  His  elect  from  the  four  winds, 
from  one  end  of  Heaven  to  the  other." 

Christ  had  come  up  from  the  Jordan  Valley, 
with  Bartimeus  of  Jericho  in  His  train,  and  had 
rested  with  His  friends  at  Bethany,  where  they 
made  a  feast  in  His  honour,  "  and  Lazarus  was 
one  of  them  who  sat  at  the  table  with  Him." 
The  Synoptic  Gospels  make  no  allusion  to  this 
visit,  and  they  are  equally  silent  as  to  the 
miracle  itself  which  consummated  the  betrayal 
and  the  cross.  The  procession  into  the  city, 
and  to  the  Temple,  which  provoked  the  question, 
"  Who  is  this  ?  "  was  a  mingled  crowd  of  young 
and  old,  friends  and  foes,  those  who  blessed, 
and  those  who  cursed  ;  and  it  is  impossible  not 
to  ask,  what  was  the  real  end  which  it  was 
intended  to  accomplish  ?  St.  Matthew  no  doubt 
explains  that  "  all  this  was  done,  that  it  might 
be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  by  the  prophet," 
but  this  only  sends  us  one  step  back.  We  still 
wish  to  know  to  what  divine  intention  the 
prophet  then  testified.  On  the  surface  of  things 
the  results  which  at  first  came  out  of  it  were  a 
tremendous  disappointment,  a  revelation  sadder 
than  the  world  had  ever  seen  before  or  has  seen 
since  of  the  caprice  and  fickleness  in  the  heart 
oi   men.      It  meant  the  final  exasperation  of  the 


THE  END 

Pharisees,   and    the   immediate   weaving    oi    the 

last  threads  of  the  conspiracy  which  was  to  take 
away  Christ's  life.  Possibly  it  may  have  been 
the  divine  purpose  to  bequeath  a  supreme  and 
pathetic  and  ineffaceable  impression  of  the 
spiritual  kingdom  which  the  meek  and  lowly 
Saviour  had  come  to  set  up  in  the  world  ;  of  the 
disappointments  and  failures  to  he  expected  and 
endured  in  setting  it  up,  by  I  lis  Church  after 
Him,  as  well  as  by  Himself;  of  the  wonderful 
combination  in  His  heart  of  joy  and  sorrow,  pity 
and  indignation  at  the  same  moment ;  of  the 
supreme  duty  of  accomplishing  a  predestined 
task,  even  with  the  depressing  consciousness 
that  it  would  all  be  for  a  time  in  vain. 

"  Who  is  this?  "  He  is  a  King,  though  His 
kingdom  is  not  of  this  world,  and  those  who 
accept  His  sway  arc  not  the  wise  after  the  flesh, 
not  the  mighty,  not  the  noble  ;  but  little  children 
who  read  His  royalty  in  His  face,  the  poor 
whom  He  has  taught,  the  sick  whom  He  has 
healed,  the  sinful  whom  He  has  forgiven,  the 
lonely  and  sorrowful  whom  He  has  drawn  to 
'Himself  with  an  infinite  pity,  and  consoled  with 
a  love  which  passeth  knowledge.  He  will  pre- 
sently be  asked,  in  accents  of  quiet  scorn,  "  Art 
thou  a  king  then?"  The  heathen  soldiers  will 
mock  and  buffet  Him,  because  in  His  ragged 
purple  and  His  crown  of  thorns,  He  may  seem 
to  dispute  the  authority  of  Tiberius  in  distant 
Caprca?.      Over  His  cross  it  will  be  written,  with 


326  (QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

an  unconscious  tribute  to  Him,  though  with  the 
purpose  of  keen  insult  in  it,  "Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
the  King  of  the  Jews."  When  He  is  dead,  His 
life  and  name  will  still  have  such  power,  that 
Pilate  will  be  asked  to  send  a  watch  to  His 
tomb,  lest  anything  should  happen  to  give  Him 
liberty.  But  from  that  hour  to  this,  He  has  in 
a  most  true  sense  been  King  of  kings  and  Lord 
of  lords  to  millions  and  millions  of  human  souls. 
His  own  prediction  of  Himself  is  being  constantly 
fulfilled,  "I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  will 
draw  all  men  unto  Me." 

When  the  people  in  the  Temple  asked,  "  Who 
is  this?"  the  reply  given  was,  "This  is  Jesus 
of  Nazareth,  the  prophet  of  Galilee."  They 
knew  Him  best  as  a  Teacher.  He  was  so  simple, 
so  true,  so  dignified,  so  painstaking  and  gentle  ; 
so  courageous,  so  penetrating,  nay,  sometimes 
so  tremendously  severe.  They  heard  Him  even 
with  eagerness  and  delight ;  for  His  one  pur- 
pose was  not  to  display  His  own  wisdom,  nor  to 
mortify  them  with  an  exhibition  of  their  ignor- 
ance, but  to  win  them  into  the  spiritual  know- 
ledge and  service  of  His  Father.  Sometimes 
they  said,  "  This  is  a  hard  saying  " — and  left 
Him.  But  His  own  disciples,  who  knew  Him 
best,  and  were  always  in  His  company,  said, 
"  Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the 
words  of  eternal  life." 

"  Who  is  this  ?  "  It  is  Jesus,  and  Jesus  is 
Saviour.      Months   before  John  the  Baptist   had 


THE  END  ;J7 

said  of  Him,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which 
takcth  away  the  sin  of  the  world  ;"  years,  years 
before,  an  angel  had  directed  that  this  name 
should  be  given  Him:  "Thou  shalt  call  His 
name  Jesus,  for  He  shall  save  His  people  from 
their  sins."  A  wonderful  glimpse  of  His  saving 
purpose  is  given  us  in  the  course  of  His  entry 
into  Jerusalem.  As  He  drew  near  to  the  city, 
and  all  its  wonderful  beauty  burst  upon  His 
vision,  and,  what  was  far  more,  the  thought  of 
the  unspeakable  preciousness  of  the  great  con- 
course of  souls  gathered  within  the  walls  at  that 
moment,  souls  for  which  He  had  come  to  die, 
yet  which  He  might  not  save,  He  wept.  While 
there  was  joy  in  His  heart  that  the  time  of  His 
sacrifice  had  come,  which  He  elsewhere  called  The 
His  glorification,  the  joy  was  marred  by  the  /.J"')'ifll, 
question,  "Who  hath  believed  our  report,  to  arrived. 
whom  is  the  arm  of  the  law  revealed  ?"  We 
know  of  the  blaze  of  indignation  in  His  heart, 
especially  on  the  false,  cruel,  worldly,  hardened 
Pharisees,  and  yet  as  His  gaze  travelled  round 
the  city,  and  He  looked  on  to  the  time  of  the 
Roman  siege,  and  counted  the  sixty  thousand 
crosses  of  tortured  and  dying  countrymen,  on 
whom  the  wrath  both  of  God  and  man  had  come 
to  the  uttermost,  compassion  got  the  better  of 
wrath  ;  He  still  loved,  and  because  He  loved  He 
wept. 

;' Who  is   this?"      This  question   must   have 
seemed    yet  more  forcible  and   reasonable  when 


328  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

this  same  Jesus,  surrounded,  as  we  may  suppose, 
by  His  enthusiastic  and  excited  followers,  looked 
round  Him  in  the  Temple,  and  observing  the 
same  scandalous  irreverence  and  covetous  bar- 
gainings which  three  years  before  He  had  seen 
and  punished  all  come  back,  as  bad  as  ever, 
"  cast  out  all  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the 
temple,  and  overthrew  the  tables  of  the  money- 
changers and  the  seats  of  them  that  sold  doves, 
and  said  unto  them,  It  is  written,  My  house 
shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer ;  but  ye  have 
made  it  a  den  of  thieves."  We  do  not  wonder 
that  the  chief  priests  and  scribes  were  sore  dis- 
pleased. What  does  surprise  us  is  that  they 
did  not  lay  hands  at  the  moment  on  Him.  But 
conscience  made  cowTards  of  them.  "  His  hour 
was  not  yet  come." 

This  question,  "Who  is  this?"  I  desire, 
Christian  reader,  to  put  straight  to  you.  What 
sort  of  an  answer  can  you  give  about  Him,  to 
any  one  who  asks  you  a  reason  of  the  hope  that 
is  in  you,  supposing  that  you  have  a  hope. 
When  you  see  Him,  as  you  pass  into  His  pre- 
sence, see  Him  when  He  is  seated  on  His  throne 
of  judgment,  it  will  be  too  late  to  find  the  answer, 
if  not  found  before.  The  foolish  virgins  who 
went  to  buy  oil  at  midnight  found  the  bride- 
groom's door  shut  in  their  faces.  In  a  very  real, 
and  not  an  artificial  sense,  "  Now  is  the  accepted 
time,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation."  Have  you 
recognised    Him    as    your    King?      Have    you 


THE  END  529 

asked  llim  to  occupy  and  possess  and  fill  your 
Ikmi  (  ;  and  do  you  keep  Mini  there,  and  Peed 
"ii  Mini  there,  by  faith,  through  the  power  ■  >! 
the  Holy  Ghost?  Have  you  taken  I  lis  yoke 
on  you,  and  cast  your  burden  on  Him  ?  Is  the 
thought  of  His  unchanging  and  eternal  love  a 
joy  to  soothe  your  heart  ? 

"Who  is  this?"  Is  He  your  Saviour  ?  If 
you  think  so,  how  do  you  know  ;  and  what  has 
given  you  the  right  to  say  it  ?  It  is  quite  true, 
that  nothing  you  can  do,  or  say,  or  feel,  can  make 
I  Iim  your  Saviour.  He  is  "  born  "  your  Saviour: 
and  you  can  no  more  obtain  or  purchase  a  privi- 
lege which  is  yours  by  virtue  of  your  humanity 
and  your  baptism,  than  you  can  by  the  payment 
of  all  the  world's  treasure  make  yourself  a  king's 
son.  But  it  is  not  enough  for  you  to  be  told  that 
He  is  your  Saviour;  you  must  go  to  Him,  and 
ask  Him  to  give  you  your  salvation  from  the  guilt 
of  sin  and  from  the  power  of  it.  There  must 
be  a  conscious  turning  of  your  will — an  intelli- 
gent comprehension  of  Him  and  His  Person  and 
His  work,  through  the  illumination  of  His  holy 
word.  He  says,  "  Come  unto  Me  " — and  I  Ie 
expects  us  to  come  to  Him.  Our  baptismal 
privilege,  unless  appreciated,  vitalised,  and  taken 
up  in  all  its  blessed  and  wonderful  fulness,  will 
only  be  our  condemnation.  It  is  in  conscious 
union  with  Him,  in  the  daily  augmenting,  ma- 
turing experience  of  what  He  is,  and  was,  and 
will    be,   that   we  find   our  liberty,  and  enter  on 


33o  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

our  inheritance,  and  accept  our  sonship.  If  we 
stay  outside,  we  shall  be  left  outside.  If  we 
cannot  say  to  any  one  who  asks  "  Who  is  this  ?  " 
"it  is  my  Saviour,  who  has  died  for  me,  and  died 
for  you,  because  He  loves  us  both  ;  go  to  Him 
and  ask  Him  to  tell  you  this  Himself"  ;  when  the 
time  comes,  that  you  first  look  on  His  face,  what 
will  you  have  to  say  to  Him  ?  Much  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  He  may  be  forced  to  say  to  you,  "  I 
know  you  not." 

"  Who  is  this  ?  "  There  is  one  more  answer 
to  this  question  that  may  be  given,  ought  to  be, 
nay,  must  be  given,  by  all  those  who  would 
welcome  Him  when  He  comes  in  glory.  He 
who  is  King,  who  is  Saviour,  is  also  the  Beloved. 
God  is  Love,  and  Christ  is  Love.  He  wept  over 
Jerusalem.  Have  you  not  sometimes  made  Him 
weep  over  you  ?  Do  not  scorn  His  love ;  do 
not  refuse  His  friendship  ;  do  not  give  the  best 
of  your  life  to  the  world,  and  then  reserve  the 
dregs  for  Him  ;  do  not  think  that  you  can  use 
Him  as  a  Saviour  and  neglect  Him  as  a  friend. 
What  are  you  doing  for  His  honour  ?  How  are 
you  helping  on  His  Kingdom  ?  Will  Heaven  be 
any  fuller  for  your  life,  your  words,  your  efforts, 
your  prayers  ?  Is  it  your  shame  to  be  lazy  and 
selfish  ?  Is  it  your  joy  and  your  blessedness  to 
live  for  Him  who  lived  and  died  and  reigns  and 
waits  for  you  ? 

"Who  is  this?" 


////■■  END 


JJI 


II 

THE  JUDGMENT 

Lord,  when  taw  »'<■  Thee  <///  hungered  <uid  fed  T/n;-,  or  thirsty, 
and  gave  Thee  drink:    Matthew  \w.  37. 

1"^)  I  VINES  are  all  but  unanimous  in  referring 
this  parable  to  the  final  judgment  of  the 
heathen  world.  "  All  nations,"  must  include  the 
entire  human  race,  of  whom,  even  at  the  present 
day,  two- thirds  are  ignorant  of  Christ.  Among 
the  heathen  there  have  ever  been  all  varieties  of 
benevolence,  wisdom  and  virtue,  from  Plato,  who 
came  as  close  to  the  discovery  of  God  as  any 
man  ever  did  without  the  help  of  revelation,  to 
Tiberius,  whom  it  is  hardly  unjust  to  define  as 
the  incarnation  of  all  possible  wickedness.  To 
live  up  to  light,  however  dim  the  light  may  be, 
is  acceptable  to  God.  No  knowledge  of  truth, 
clear  and  vital  as  it  may  be,  can  ever  permit  us 
to  dispense  with  the  practice  of  goodness.  Nay, 
if  we  had  to  choose  between  understanding 
accurately,  and  doing  virtuously,  the  doing  would 
come  first.  Of  all  doing,  charity  is  the  queen, 
fountain,  and  ornament.  To  love,  whoever  we 
may  be,  or  whatever  religion  we  may  profess,  is 
to  obey  and  resemble  God. 


W  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

Surely  it  is  a  very  consoling,  as  well  as  noble, 
reflection,  that  He  who  made  us  in  His  own 
image,  and  stooped  to  share  our  nature  that  He 
might  win  it  back  into  more  than  its  first  per- 
fection, not  only  hates  nothing  that  He  hath 
made,  but  loves  and  cherishes  it,  watches  over 
it,  and  longs  for  its  salvation.  He  does  not 
make  the  worst  of  us,  but  the  best  of  us.  If 
He  cannot  have  all  that  He  desires  and  deserves, 
He  takes  what  He  can  find,  to  make  it  the  step- 
ping stone  of  better  things  to  come.  Let  no 
one,  however,  suppose  that  because  the  Redeemer 
of  the  world  in  His  infinite  compassion  clasps 
mankind  to  His  heart,  that  He  is  satisfied  the}' 
should  remain  in  the  darkness  of  spiritual  death, 
or  that  He  views  with  complacency  or  indiffer- 
ence our  leaving  them  to  perish  outside  His 
sheepfold.  While  it  is  true  that  we  may  safety 
leave  to  the  divine  righteousness  the  awful 
mystery  of  the  pagan  world  still  lying  in  the 
Wicked  One — "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the 
earth  do  right  ?" — we  cannot  safely  wrap  our- 
selves up  in  the  selfish  comfort  of  our  own 
salvation.  This  great  parable  may  some  day  be 
found  to  have  its  spiritual  as  well  as  its  moral 
significance  ;  and  Christians  may  be  roused  to  a 
sense  of  their  own  shortcomings,  for  not  having 
seen  in  the  ignorance  of  a  heathen's  soul  the 
silent  plea  of  Christ. 

While,  however,  we  may  be  justified  in  in- 
cluding the   heathen   within   the   scope  of  these 


THE  END  J33 

wonderful     words,     and     observe,    not    without 

emotion  touched  with  awe,  that  all  will   have  to 

give  an  account  of  themselves  to  God,  from  the 

least    to    the    greatest,    we    must    be    careful    to  ,., 

°  The  four 

remember  that  the  principles  implied  here  are  of principles. 

universal  application.  They  are  four,  and  they 
are  essential  with  Christ.  First,  they  show  the 
dignity  and  preciousness  of  every  human  bcinj;, 
and  of  its  kinship  and  dearncss  to  God  ;  second, 
they  recognise  the  tremendous  reality  and  extent 
and  wofulness  of  bodily  suffering,  and  that  God 
docs  not  mean  it  to  go  unheeded  or  untended  ; 
third,  they  do  not  profess  to  confine  the  acts  and 
emotions  of  just  benevolence  simply  to  those  who 
deserve  them.  "  When  we  were  sinners  Christ 
died  for  us  ;"  and  the  Saviour  says  here,  "  I 
was  in  prison  and  ye  came  to  Me."  Fourth, 
Christ  plainly  expects  us,  in  the  discharge  of  our 
common  obligations,  in  payment  of  the  debt  we 
owe  to  the  society  in  which  we  live,  most  of  all 
in  the  spiritual  recognition  of  Himself  in  every 
sick  and  troubled  and  wounded  soul,  for  which, 
and  by  which,  in  a  real  sense,  He  silently 
appeals  to  our  compassion  and  tests  our  sin- 
cerity, to  take  our  regular  personal  share  in 
ministering,  according  to  our  opportunity,  to  the 
material  needs  of  men  ;  and  teaches  us  that  all 
our  devotions  and  sacrifices  and  self-discipline 
are  worthless  in  His  eyes,  unless  transfigured 
and  beautified  by  tender  human  charity. 

We    sec   and   hear,  and   occasionally   express 


334  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

our  sense  of  the  degradation  of  human  nature, 
and  there  is  a  peril  as  well  as  a  loss  in  doing 
so.  We  do  not  make  ourselves  better  by  making 
others  out  to  be  worse.  To  magnify  the  diffi- 
culty may  be  only  to  augment  the  despair,  and 
degradation  at  least  implies  a  previous  elevation 
from  which  the  lamentable  fall  has  been  made. 
Oh  !  to  learn  how  to  look  out  upon  the  world 
with  the  pitiful,  hopeful,  redeeming  heart  of 
Jesus.  Oh  !  to  come  to  see  both  in  the  misery 
and  in  the  sinfulness  of  even  the  worst  men 
that  there  is  something  for  us  to  remedy  as  well 
as  for  them  to  endure.  The  most  pungent  and 
cynical  of  Latin  satirists  once  observed  that 
there  was  nothing  harder  to  bear  in  poverty 
than  that  it  made  men  ridiculous.  The  self- 
imposed  poverty  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God 
should  by  this  time  have  indignantly  swept  that 
base  reproach  away.  "  He  was  rich,  yet  for 
our  sakes  He  became  poor,  that  we  through  His 
poverty  might  be  rich."  Once  more,  every 
human  being  is  a  personal  kinsman  of  Christ, 
and  has  something  }Tet  left  in  him  of  the  divine 
image,  and  there  are  possibilities  and  heights  of 
blessedness,  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear 
heard.  Even  in  prison,  he  who  visits  the 
criminal  may  feel  Christ's  face  looking  at  him, 
and  see  on  that  face  a  smile.  We  want  more 
faith,  more  hope,  more  love,  in  our  attempts  to 
make  the  world  better.  Of  course  it  takes  a 
long  time   to   do   it.      A  living    philosopher  has 


THE  END 

written  ol"  "  the  intense:  difficulty  <>f  making  life 
better  by  ever  so  little."  Our  impatience  will 
always  be  in  proportion  to  our  eagerness,  but 
every  one  belongs  to  Christ,  and  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  secretly  deals  with  him,  though  in  a  \\a\ 
we  know  hot  ;  and  if  we  want  to  show  our  love 
to  Christ,  and  our  sense  of  what  lie  has  doni 
for  us,  let  us  see  Him  appealing  to  our  com- 
passion, and  inviting  our  co-operation  for  men 
that  seem  utterly  hardened  against  every  good 
impression,  nay,  that  arc  even  earning  their 
bread  by  the  wages  of  sin. 

Then,  the  world  is  in  a  very  real  sense  a  Occasion* 
hospital,  with  hunger  and  thirst,  shame  and  c,/  " 
cruelty,  poverty  and  crime,  necessity  and  deatli 
ever  busy  ;  and  instead  of  racking  our  brains 
to  find  the  cause  of  it,  and  wasting  energy  and 
time  in  searching  into  the  secrets  of  the  divine 
consistency,  we  arc  to  do  what  lies  in  us,  to  use 
our  surroundings  as  a  discipline  of  charity  and 
an  occasion  for  service.  It  is  a  great  thing  for 
us  to  have  "  a  sense  of  our  share  in  every 
public  wrong."  It  may  be  quite  impossible  for 
us  to  convert  a  soul  from  sin  ;  it  need  not  be 
so,  to  restore  the  sick  to  health,  or  to  protect  the 
hungry  from  starving.  Our  Lord  did  not  lay 
down  any  laws  of  social  economy  in  this  para- 
ble. That  He  foresaw  we  could  do  for  ourselves 
presently,  and  He  left  us  to  do  it.  But  He  did 
know  the  coldness  of  a  sellish  spirit,  and  Il< 
foresaw  that  we  should  sometimes  ask  the  qucs- 


336  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

tion,  "  Who  is  my  neighbour  ?"  not  that  we  might 
multiply  our  opportunities  of  kindness,  but  that 
we  might  escape  them.  In  speaking  of  the  body 
He  did  not  forget  the  soul.  "  What  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and 
lose  his  own  soul?"  But  the  body  is  close  to 
us,  and  it  is  the  shrine  of  the  soul,  and  its  organ. 
Also,  it  is  the  temple  of  the  indwelling  God. 
What  Isaiah  pressed  on  the  Church  of  his  time, 
the  Lord  will  make  His  test  of  sincerity  when 
He  comes  to  judge  the  world.  If  we  feel  there 
is  but  little  we  can  do,  and  that  we  have  not 
much  to  do  it  with,  there  is  this  consolation,  "  It 
is  not  what  man  does  that  exalts  him,  but  what 
man  would  do." 

Then,  how  often  we  are  told,  told  by  those 
who  would  not  touch  one  of  the  world's  lightest 
burdens  with  the  tip  of  a  little  finger,  that  only 
at  a  great  risk  of  encouraging  improvidence  and 
wickedness  can  we  make  our  benevolent  crusades 
against  folly  and  sorrow  !  To  help  those  who 
have  forfeited  all  claim  to  help  by  misconduct 
or  unthriftiness  may  seem  to  proclaim  to  the 
world  a  perfect  immunity  for  what  is  on  the 
way  to  wreck  it,  and  to  discourage  virtue  by 
patronising  vice.  Let  us  admit,  instantly,  hon- 
estly, fearlessly,  continually,  that  much  circum- 
spection is  needed  in  the  relief  of  material  dis- 
tress ;  that  it  is  possible  to  foster  a  detestable 
hypocrisy  by  listening  too  hopefully  to  the  peni- 
tent cant  of  smooth  rogues  ;   and  that   a  sagacity 


THE  END  537 

and   painstaking    knowledge  ol    the    ways    and 

dispositions  of  men  can  alone  help  us  to  make 
our  footsteps  sure,  and  our  kindness  prudent  in 
the  ministries  of  benevolence.  But  there  are 
risks  also  on  the  other  side,  risks  of  hardening 
our  own  nature,  risks  of  steeling  our  sympathies 
against  righteous  distress,  and  poverty  with  no 
reproach  in  it.  Waiting  for  perfect  wisdom 
means  waiting  until  the}'  who  need  our  help 
and  we  who  ought  to  give  it,  have  both  gone 
to  the  face  of  the  Judge.  There  ma}-  be 
risks  also  of  neglecting,  refusing,  disobeying, 
and  displeasing  Christ  in  the  person  of  His 
suffering  brethren.  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did 
it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  My  brethren, 
ye  did  it  not  to  Me."  Oh,  what  an  awful 
sentence  to  hear  from  the  "  meek  and  gentle 
Christ  !  " 

Once  more,  what  are  we  ourselves  doing  for 
the  sake  and  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  for  His 
suffering  kinsfolk  ?  Some  arc  spending  their 
lives  on  Him  and  His.  Blessed,  thrice  blessed 
will  they  be  when  He  welcomes  them  to  glory. 
Some  are  doing  a  little,  but  rather  grudgingly 
and  fearfully,  and  with  no  sense  of  joy,  but 
simply  because  they  are  obliged.  We  do  not 
know  what  He  will  say  to  them,  but  this  we  do 
know,  that  we  had  better  not  wait  to  find  out 
until  He  comes.  Some  will  have  done  nothing 
for  Him  or  His,  and  have  lived  only  for  them- 
selves.      He    has   told   us    what    will    be    their 

v 


338  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

sentence  ;  what  mortal  spirit   can  fathom  all  that 
it  means?      "  Depart  from  Me." 


Ill 
RECOMPENSE 

What  shall  we  have,  therefore? — MATTHEW  xix.  27. 

TT  is  easy  to  object  to  this  question  of  the 
apostle  that  it  has  a  ring  of  self-interest 
about  it,  in  the  sense  of  one  who  was  driving 
a  clever  bargain.  Christ,  however,  if  we  may 
judge  from  His  instant  and  full  reply,  did  not 
look  at  it  in  this  light.  Had  it  been  a  question 
of  gross  selfishness,  would  He  not  have  exposed 
and  rebuked  it,  instead  of  satisfying  it  at  once  ? 
Besides,  what  is  the  meaning  or  the  value  of 
promises  of  any  kind,  "  the  exceeding  great  and 
precious  promises  "  not  excluded,  if  they  are  not 
to  encourage  us  to  sacrifice  and  to  feed  the  heart 
with  not  ungenerous  hope  ?  In  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  each  beatitude  has  its  corresponding 
reward  attached  to  it.  The  meek  shall  inherit  the 
earth,  and  the  peacemakers  shall  be  called  the 
children  of  God,  and  the  persecuted  for  right- 
eousness' sake  shall  have  a  great  reward  in 
Heaven,  and  the  pure  shall  see  God.  Even  at 
the  end  of  his  life  St.  Paul  looked   on  with  eager 


THE  END  J39 

.anticipation  t^>  "  the  crown  of  righteousness  " 
which  the  Lord,  "  the  righteous  judge,"  would 
give  him  ;  and  not  to  him  only,  but  unto  nil 
them  also  who  love  I  lis  appearing.  The  simple 
truth  is  that  Christ  meets  and  recognises  instead 
of  ignoring  and  repudiating  the  instincts  and 
needs  of  our  complicated  nature  ;  and  in  one 
memorable  instance  lie  goes  so  far  as  to  invite 
His  disciples,  as  in  a  matter  of  gain  and  loss,  to 
calculate  for  themselves  which  was  better  worth 
their  while  to  do,  to  gain  the  whole  world  or  to 
lose  their  souls.  To  the  rich  young  man,  if  he 
would  follow  Him,  He  proposed  as  His  reward 
"  treasure  in  Heaven."  The  young  man  prefer- 
ring a  present  treasure  to  a  future  prospect, 
went  away  sorrowful. 

Let  us,  then,  divest  our  minds  of  any  unjust 
suspicion  of  the  apostle's  disinterestedness,  and 
proceed  to  consider  what  the  Lord  really  meant 
by  the  remarkable  assurance  He  gave  him,  and 
how  it  is  still  and  completely  fulfilled  for  the 
Christian  of  to-day.  In  the  general  way  of 
putting  it,  Christ's  undertaking  amounts  to  this, 
that  His  disciples  shall  be  none  the  worse  for 
choosing  His  service,  whatever  may  be  the  pre- 
sent losses  such  discipleship  may  seem  to  entail 
with  it.  Pursuing  His  words  into  detail  we 
observe  that  the  divine  promise  has  its  future 
as  well  as  its  present  blessedness.  In  the  life 
to  come  there  is  to  be  a  sharing  of  the  divine 
government,  or,  as  St.  Paul   puts  it,  "  Know  ye 


340  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

not  that  the  saints  shall  judge  the  world  ?  "  In 
the  present  life  those  who  have  forsaken  houses 
or  brethren,  or  sisters,  or  father,  or  mother,  or 
wife,  or  children,  or  lands,  shall  receive — as  St. 
Mark  relates  it — "  now,  in  this  time,  houses  and 
brethren,  and  sisters,  and  mothers,  and  children, 
and  lands,  with  persecutions"  ;  or,  as  St.  Luke 
words  it,  "  manifold  more."  Some  of  this  it  is 
easy,  some  it  is  not  so  easy,  to  understand. 

Of  all  the  acute  sorrows  which  the  confession 
of  Christ,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Church,  en- 
tailed on  His  followers,  the  most  acute  was  the 
loss  of  the  respect  and  love,  not  only  of  friends, 
but  even  of  relations — relations  so  close  as  those 
of  parent,  or  child,  or  wife.  Not  unfrequently  the 
first  person  to  accuse  the  detected  Christian  was 
his  own  father;  and  the  utter  disdain  of  the 
pagan  wife  came  as  a  scorching  anguish  to  the 
soul.  Here,  however,  there  was  speedy  and, 
perhaps,  adequate  compensation  in  the  tender 
and  holy  friendship  of  the  faithful  in  Christ.  If 
some  friends  were  lost,  others  were  gained  ;  and 
in  a  very  real  sense  the  gain  overbalanced  the 
loss.  In  those  terrible  yet  blessed  days  men 
drew  near  to  each  other  in  the  bonds  of  the 
Gospel.  The  Church  was  compensation  for  the 
world.  Then  was  understood,  with  vividness  of 
delight  hardly  intelligible  now,  "  We  know  that 
we  have  passed  from  death  unto  life,  because  we 
love  the  brethren." 

What,   however,    is   meant   by    "  houses  and 


THE  END  ;ii 

lands,"  as  here  promised  by  Christ?     A  literal  Christ's 

interpretation  of  the  word  seems  at  variance  both  /'"' 
with  facts  and  principles.  For  beyond  the  tran- 
sient spasm  of  self-imposed  poverty  whereby, 
soon  after  Pentecost,  the  wealthier  believers  in 
Christ  sold  their  houses  and  lands  for  the  imme- 
diate relief  of  their  poorer  brethren  ;  and  our 
Lord  could  hardly  have  had  this  in  His  mind  ; 
the  Christian  Church,  for  several  generations, 
was  steeped  in  almost  abject  poverty.  If  no 
lands  were  acquired,  few  were  surrendered  ;  and 
God's  appointed  way  of  rewarding  His  people 
for  moral  or  spiritual  deserts  is  not'  by  the 
material  things  of  this  life.  God,  no  doubt,  be- 
stows them,  but  they  are  regulated  by  laws  quite 
outside  the  spiritual  world.  A  truly  Christian 
man  may  be  constantly  in  a  state  of  embarrass- 
ment and  impecuniousness,  from  total  lack  of 
what  we  call  habits  of  business.  A  man  who  is 
a  Christian  only  in  privilege,  or,  it  may  be,  not 
even  in  that,  simply  by  the  careful  and  diligent 
exercise  of  worldly  shrewdness  and  the  use  ol 
opportunity,  may  have  houses  and  lands  and 
riches,  and  enjoy  them  for  himself  until  the  day 
comes  when  he  has  to  leave  them  all. 

Surely,  what  our  Lord  meant  to  promise  was, 
not  the  things  themselves  but  their  equivalent  ; 
the  peace,  the  contentment,  the  inward  inde- 
scribable joy,  the  supreme  faith  about  the  future, 
which  God  ever  gives  to  those  who  trust  Him 
utterly.      St.  Paul  is  an   instance  in   point.      He 


342  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

has  himself  told  us  that  he  had  suffered  the  loss 
of  all  things,  but  that  he  counted  them  as  dung 
if  he  might  win  Christ  ;  and  in  the  very  same 
Epistle  he  proceeds  to  tell  us,  writing  from  a 
dungeon,  in  what  shape  houses  and  lands  and 
brethren  had  been  repaid  to  him.  "  I  know  both 
how  to  be  abased,  and  how  to  abound  ;  I  am  in- 
structed both  to  be  full  and  to  be  hungry,  both 
to  abound  and  to  suffer  need.  I  can  do  all  things 
through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me.  I  have 
all  and  abound." 

Yes,  God  gives  us  Himself  in  place  of  all  we 
lose  by  following  Him.  A  man  of  the  world 
may  coldly  scoff  at  this,  as  something  a  little  too 
shadowy  for  pressing  earthly  wants.  A  Christian 
remembers  that  God  knows  his  needs,  and  in  His 
righteousness  will  supply  them,  and  that  He  never 
withholds  any  good  thing  from  those  who  lead 
a  godly  life.  He  makes  our  cares  His  own  ; 
and  though  from  the  exact  knowledge  He  has 
of  each  of  us,  some  He  sees  can  be  more  safely 
trusted  than  others  with  earthly  prosperity  or 
material  well-being,  for  all  His  children  He  has 
a  personal,  tender,  incessant  consideration.  He 
claims  our  prayers,  and  He  bestows  the  peace 
which  passeth  understanding. 

Two  thoughts  more  may  suffice  for  this  great 
subject.  It  is  always  to  be  remembered  that 
there  are  different  epochs  or  zones  in  the  spiritual 
history  of  the  soul,  and  that  the  epoch  of  infancy, 
when  the  first  dawning  of  life  is  felt,  needs  a  very 


THE  END  J43 

different  treatment  from  that  in  which  the  aged 
believer  desires  to  depart  in  peace  because  his 
eyes  have  seen  salvation.  To  encourage  us  in 
our  start,  the  kind  and  pitiful  Lord  points  us 
not  only  to  the  end  of  the  race,  but  to  the  entire 
course  of  it.  We  have  not  learnt  His  goodn< :ss 
yet  ;  we  arc  but  mastering  the  alphabet  of  His 
love.  We  cannot  take  Him  on  trust  as  we  shall 
do  presently.  We  want  questions  answering, 
doubts  dissipating,  hope  to  be  stirred,  faith  to  be 
matured.  lie,  at  such  moments,  is  as  tender 
and  patient  as  a  nurse  cherishing  her  children, 
lie  gives  us  all  we  want  ;  and  we  are  encouraged 
to  follow.  The  time  will  come  when  we  shall 
cease  to  ask,  "  What  shall  we  have,  therefore?" 
Not  because  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference,  but 
because  we  know  it  is  settled  for  us.  We  have 
Him,  and  with  Him  all  thimgs.  We  arc  also 
learning  how  to  love  Him  for  His  own  sake,  not 
for  His  gifts.  He  is  sure  to  do  for  us  whatever 
is  righteous  and  loving  and  merciful.  Our  silence 
is  the  measure  of  our  faith,  our  peace  is  the 
sense  of  His  promises. 

Yet  it  is  also  true — solemnly,  blessedly  true — 
that,  as  I  have  already  hinted,  the  question 
"What  shall  we  have,  therefore?"  must  never 
become  an  indifferent  thing  to  us.  If  we  do  not 
put  it,  it  must  not  be  because  we  do  not  care 
for  it.  Wc  ought  to  care  for  it  more  than  we 
do,  and  he  who  cares  most  for  Christ's  reward 
is  he  who  most  cares  for  Christ  Himself.      To  be 


344  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

with  Him,  and  to  see  Him  as  He  is,  and  to  be 
like  Him  ;  to  be  sitting  on  His  throne,  and 
sharing  His  ministry,  and  communing  with  His 
saints,  and  listening  to  His  angels  ;  these  are 
but  feeble  and  scanty  and  shallow  expressions 
for  that  wonderful  fulness  of  light  and  sanctity, 
worship  and  service,  fellowship  and  praise,  know- 
ledge and  love,  which  are  wrapped  up  in  the  words 
"eternal  life."  "Blessed  are  they  that  hunger 
and  thirst  after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be 
filled."  "  Be  thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will 
give  thee  the  crown  of  life." 


IV 
THE   WHITE  ROBES 

What  arc  these  which  are  arrayed  in  white  rates,  and 
whence  came  they? — Revelation  vii.  13. 

"\"\/"E  do  not  wonder  that  among  all  the  re- 
vealed glories  of  the  heavenly  place,  this 
white-robed  multitude  should  have  seemed  to 
the  elder  standing  by  St.  John  most  worthy  of 
observation  and  inquiry.  Nor  do  we  wonder 
that  the  apostle,  unable  himself  to  understand 
what  he  saw,  instantly  asked  him  to  explain. 
Nor  again  do  we  wonder  that  place  so  high, 
robes    so    glittering,    worship    so    lofty,  joy   so 


THE  END 

triumphant  should  be  the  portion  of  thu.-.c:  who 
h;ul  deserved  those  rewards  so  well.  What  we 
may  well   wonder   at  is,  that   we   who   have   so 

often  heard  and  read,  and  in  a  degree  pondered 
these  words,  should  so  feebly  translate  them  into 
our  daily  life,  or  use  them  as  our  supreme  con- 
solation, or  hide  them  in  our  inmost  hearts, 
when  the  days  come  which  have  no  pleasure  in 
them.  For  arc  they  not  the  true  commentary  on 
the  apostle's  hope  ?  "I  reckon  that  the  suffer- 
ings of  this  present  time  arc  not  to  be  compared 
with  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  to  us." 

It  is  quite  true,  and  a  truth  that  needs  to  be 
remembered,  that  in  all  human  probability  the 
vast  and  glorified  multitude  on  which  the  apostle 
gazed  with  such  solemn  yet  delighted  awe,  was 
the  great  army  of  martyrs,  fresh  from  the  Nero- 
nian  persecution,  and  from  the  hideous  cruelties 
of  pagan  Rome.  St.  John,  if  a  beautiful  though 
unauthenticated  tradition  be  correct,  had  himself 
escaped  from  the  jaws  of  the  lion  by  the  super- 
natural interference  of  God  ;  and  to  him,  who 
was  left,  a  martyr  in  will  though  not  in  deed, 
the  great  mercy  was  vouchsafed  of  beholding 
those  who  had  been  thus  taken  in  their  new 
glory  and  their  crowned  blessedness  in  the  pre- 
sence of  Him  whom  they  had  revealed  in  life  and 
confessed  in  death  :  their  shame  and  agony,  and 
horror  and  contumely  all  vanished  and  forgotten 
in  rejoicing,  as  only  those  can  rejoice,  who  have 
conquered  death  and  behold  God. 


346  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

When  we  say  in  the  Te  Deum  "  The  noble 
army  of  martyrs  praise  Thee,"  we  use  that  great 
word  in  the  restricted  and  unique  sense  of  those 
who  "were  slain  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for 
the  testimony  which  they  held,"  or  as  we  read 
it  here,    "  come  out  of  the  great  tribulation." 

Martyrdom  of  course,  in  this  its  exceptional 
and  loftiest  meaning,  is  not  done  with  yet,  never 
will  be  done  with,  until  the  world  ceases  to  hate 
the  Church,  and  the  great  adversary  of  God  and 
men  becomes  weary  of  inflaming  the  forces  of 
evil  against  the  saints.  All  down  the  course  of 
history,  as  the  Kingdom  of  God  achieved  its 
victories  and  extended  its  sway,  the  axe  has 
been  sharpened,  and  the  fire  kindled,  and  the 
gallows  reared,  and  the  prisons  filled  for  the 
quenching  of  the  courage  and  the  shedding  of 
the  blood  of  infant  Churches.  In  modern  times 
Japan,  Madagascar,  Central  Africa,  China  tell  all 
the  same  tale,  illustrate  the  same  principle,  in- 
dicate the  same  ordeal,  narrate  the  same  triumph. 
Not  only  in  public  but  in  private,  not  only  by 
the  State  but  by  individuals,  not  only  by 
strangers  but  by  relatives,  not  only  in  the  street 
but  in  the  house,  have  a  Christian's  deadliest 
foes  been  found  among  his  own  kinsfolk.  "  We 
must  through  much  tribulation  enter  into  the 
Kingdom  of  God  "  is  a  truth  as  much  illumined 
by  the  fires  of  Smithfield  as  in  the  gardens  of 
the  Imperial  Palace,  when  to  hide  Nero's  crime 
from    his    threatening    and     outraged     subjects, 


////•:  END 


J47 


hundreds  of  Christians,  slowly  binning  as  living 
torches  in  the  night,  triumphantly  passed  to  their 
crown.  It  is  also  true,  that  while  there  arc  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  martyrdom,  and  some  full  of 
physical  anguish,  the  one  essential  kind,  indis- 
pensable for  all  who  would  follow  Christ,  and 
not  to  be  shirked  or  dreaded  by  any  who  would 
glorify  Him,  is  the  bearing  steadfast,  cheerful, 
and  self-denying  witness  to  His  name.  Martyr 
means  witness.  It  means  one  who  believes  in 
Christ,  and  who  is  neither  ashamed  nor  afraid 
to  show  it,  and  whose  life  is  a  testimony  to  the 
reality  of  his  faith,  and  whose  death  is  a  seal-  Testimony 
ing  of  his  life.  It  is  for  God  in  His  sovereign  martyrs. 
will  to  decide  of  what  quality  our  witness  shall 
be,  and  under  what  circumstances  it  is  to  be 
made. 

That  we  leave  to  Him.  It  is  for  us  to  collect 
for  our  own  guidance  and  edification  the  motives, 
ideas,  principles  which  constitute  the  martyrdom, 
which  fills  Heaven,  smiles  at  death,  looks  pain  in 
the  face  without  trembling,  and  makes  Christ  real, 
intelligible,  and  beautiful  to  mankind.  Of  the 
great  multitude  that  St.  John  beheld,  we  read 
these  several  things.  They  had  gone  into  and 
come  out  of  awful  suffering.  They  were  a 
countless  throng.  They  were  in  white  robes. 
The  robes  they  had  themselves  cleansed  in  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  The  multitude  of  the  saved 
is  a  magnificent  thought  for  the  heart  to  rest 
upon.      Here  we  are  told  even   more,  that   those 


34^  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

who  have  gloritied  God  by  willing,  conscious 
suffering  are  not  to  be  counted  by  the  wit  of 
man.  Oh  !  what  a  blessed  thought  is  this  for 
all  to  whom  Christ's  honour  is  dear,  and  His 
cross  the  supreme  blessedness.  Their  sorrow 
has  been  great ;  but  now  that  they  look  back  at 
it,  all  its  bitterness  is  gone  for  the  love  of  Jesus. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  ecstasy  of  martyr- 
dom dulled,  if  it  did  not  quite  extinguish,  the 
intenseness  of  the  pain.  It  was  over,  and  the 
Lord  had  kept  them  true.  They  were  in  white 
robes.  White  is  the  colour  of  innocence  and  of 
triumph.  Palms  tell  of  festal  joy.  It  is  espe- 
cially to  be  noted  that  they  are  said  themselves 
to  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  This  surely 
indicates  a  personal,  conscious,  penitent,  obedient 
faith.  Christ  says  to  Peter,  "If  I  wash  thee 
not  thou  hast  no  part  with  Me."  St.  John  says 
of  the  martyrs  that  their  cleansing  came  through 
their  own  personal  contact  with  the  only  blood 
that  can  give  perfect  whiteness. 

They  were  worshipping,  and  their  worship 
was  not  confessing  sin,  nor  soliciting  grace,  nor 
deprecating  sorrow.  It  was  all  praise.  "  Sal- 
vation unto  our  God  which  sitteth  upon  the 
throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb."  Oh,  if  we  would 
have  more  of  the  felicity  and  the  joy  of  Heaven, 
we  must  be  content  to  enter  more  into  the  un- 
selfish grandeur  of  its  worship,  we  must  some- 
times forget    ourselves   to   contemplate  God   and 


THE  END  J49 

to  worship  Him,  not  for  His  gifts,  but  For  I  lis 
holiness.    Once  more,  notice  their  fellowship.     It 

is  with  the  angels,  the  angels  who  watched  over 
their  childhood,  ministered  to  them  in  their  lives, 
soothed  and  cheered  them  in  their  agony,  carried 
their  freed  spirits  into  the  presence  of  the 
King.  It  is  not  permitted  to  us  now  to  know 
what  we  owe  to  the  angels.  Some  day  we 
shall  know,  for  they  will  themselves  tell  us,  and 
how  wondering  and  how  profound  will  our 
gratitude  be  ! 

But  the  martyrs'  chief    reward    is   that   they  The 
are   right   in  front  of  the  throne.      They  live  in  ,/,'/,/ 
Christ's   presence,   and    enjoy   in   a   special  way  rewara. 
Mis  society.     They  serve  Him  without  a   break. 
No  bodily  need  or  suffering,  no  sickness  or  dis- 
tress  can  disturb    them   more.      They  will   have 
spiritual  necessities,  for   they  will   still   be  crea- 
tures, and  creatures  are  dependent.      But  living 
fountains  of  water,  the  abundant   and   continual 
gift  of  the  Hoi}' Spirit,  shall  be  at  their  disposal. 
Though    it     is    inconceivable    that    the    faculty 
of  pain  should  absolutely  cease  to  exist  in  a  per- 
fect moral  being;   indeed,   no  perfected   creature 
would  wish   to   be   unable  to  suffer,  when   there 
was   scope  or   reason   for   it  ;   so   far  as  we   can 
understand  what   is   full  of  mystery,  in   the  new 
heavens  and  new  earth,  all  occasion   of  pain  will 
have   disappeared.      When  God  wipes    away  all 
tears  from  the  eyes  of  His  saints,  surely  it  must 
mean  not  only  that  He  dries  up  all  sad  memories 


350  QUESTIONS  OF  FAITH  AND  DUTY 

of  the  past,  and  makes  the  present  a  joy  un- 
speakable and  full  of  glory,  but  that  no  cloud 
shall  ever  dim  the  brightness  of  the  celestial 
sky  with  the  foreboding  of  coming  sorrow.  If 
death  and  Hell  and  sin  are  banished,  where  will 
be  the  pain  to  make  the  tears  flow  ? 

Are  we  in  any  sense  martyrs  ?  Do  our  lives, 
duties,  friendships,  enjoyments,  words,  sacrifices 
bear  witness  to  God  ?  If  we  are  not  told  to 
make  pain  for  ourselves,  when  it  comes  with 
duty  or  confession,  do  we  shirk  or  refuse  it  ? 
Are  our  lives  all  softness,  with  no  hardness  in 
them  ? 

Then  are  all  the  crosses  we  ever  see  or  bear 
in  books  and  ornaments?  If  Jesus  were  to 
speak  to  our  conscience  and  say,  "  Take  my 
Gospel  to  the  heathen  and  witness  for  me  there," 
should  we  go  ?  The  secret  of  martyrdom  in 
daily  life  is  simple  enough.  It  means  faith  and 
hope  and  love.  It  means  faith,  which  is  our 
accepting  and  understanding  and  trusting  Christ 
for  everything,  for  life  and  for  death,  for  peace 
and  for  joy.  It  means  hope ;  for  what  dull, 
poor,  halting  creatures  we  are  without  hope ! 
Oh,  if  we  thought  a  little  more  than  we  do  of 
St.  John's  vision,  how  different  this  earthly  life 
would  look  to  us,  how  we  should  rejoice  at  seeing 
Him  who  is  invisible  !  It  means  love  ;  for  as 
we  love  Christ  and  open  our  hearts,  down  to 
their  very  depth,  to  receive  His  love  flowing 
into  them,  do  we  feel  that  if  we  had  a  thousand 


THE  END  \$i 

lives,  all  should  be  given  to  Him  .J  Then  when 
we  see  Him  we  shall  be  surprised,  and  not  be 
surprised.  It  will  be  the  wonder  of  joy  and  of 
adoration  and  of  gratitude.  What  a  change  it 
will  he  from  the  weakness  and  infirmity  of  the 
last  struggle  to  the  radiance  of  the  Saviour's 
presence  and  the  chorus  of  the  new  song  !  "  This 
is  our  God,  wc  have  waited  for  Him  and  He 
will  save  us.  He  is  our  God,  we  have  waited 
for  Him,  we  will  rejoice  and  be  glad  in  I  lis 
salvation." 


INDEX 


Ambition,    315;    its   su] 
object,  317,  318 

Anonymous  letters,  241,  242 
Ascension,  The,  82 
Aubrey  Moore,  quoted,  ii 

Benevoi  km  e,  its  risk  , 

336,  337 
Benson,  Archbishop,  quoted,  xii. 

Bible  study,  168,  169 
Biblical  criticism,  7,  246 
Bonar,  quoted,  81 
Bright,  Canon,  quoted,  76 

CENSORIOUSNESS,  230  ;  its  mo- 
tive, 237,  238 

<  hild's  making,  The,  32,  38 
Christ,  conceals  His  God-head, 

117;  the  cup  of,  222,  223  ;  the 
King,  325  ;  the  Teacher,  320  ; 
Saviour,  327 

<  onsolations  of  God,  203  ;  flow 
chiefly  through  men,  202 

'  ont.ut  with  Christ,  185  ft" 
Conversation,  250;  a  means  of 

grace,  251 
Conversion,  148 

<  'rime  of  Cross  shared  1  J 


t  'ry  of  the  I  brsaken,  72 

D  sir,  R.  \\\,  quoted.  228 

I  larkness,  208  ;  intellectual,  201/; 

spiritual,  212,213;  moral, 210 
Death,  its  forecast,  15,  21  ;  win 

we  weep  at  the  grave,  95 
Delays  of  God, 
Deterioration,  signs  of,  181 
Disappointments,      215,      292  ; 

earthly,    216;   religious,  217: 

of  Jesus,  220 
Drama,  The,  301  ft" 
Dulness,  causes  of  spiritual,  162 

Election,  12 

Ellerton,  quoted,  25 

1  Experience  our  chief  argument, 

7 
Eyton,  Prebendary,  quoti 

FAl  HERHOOD  of  God,  41  ;  dif- 
ficult t>>  real 

!  God,  207 
Food  of  Man,  Christ  the, 
Forgiveness,  (iod's,  80:  unfail- 
ing possibility  of,  108,  109 
Forgiveness,  Man'-,  its  condi- 

/ 


$54 


INDEX 


tions,    190 :     it?    obligations, 
192,  193 
Friendship,     its    responsibility, 
261 

Gloky,  grades  of,  104 

Heathen,  The,  332 

Heaven,    a    development,    105  ; 

on  earth,  307 
Holiness,  6  ;  is  hard  work,  198 
Holland,  Canon  Scott,  quoted, 

iH 

Holy  Baptism,  the  Sacrament  of 

initiation,    144 ;    the  seal    of 

covenant,  146 
Holy  Communion,  The,  138,  139 
Holy  Ghost  illumines  Faith  and 

Duty,     151,    152 ;    how    and 

when  given,  152  ff" 
Hope,  314  ;  its  limitations,  316 

Indebtedness  of  man  to  God, 
does  not  paralyse,  10  ;  reason 
of  it,  10,   13;    its  nature,   13, 

14 

Indecision  is  negation,  115,  116 
Infant  Baptism,  147 
Influence,  159  ;  its  power,  276 
Inglesant,  quoted,  282 
Inspiration,  106,  107 
Interference  with  adult  children, 
44 

Judgments  sometimes  inevit- 
able, 239;  rules  of  guidance, 
239,    240 

Ken,  Bishop,  quoted,  16 
Kingship  with  Christ,  248 ;  in- 
volves obedience,  249 
Knowledge,  growth  in,  177 


Learning  and  unlearning,  162, 

178 
Life-plan,  the  allotted,  21,  25 
Lightfoot,  Bishop,  quoted,   142, 

Locke,  quoted,  vi 
Love,  279,  280 

Maclagan,  Archbp.  quoted, 7r 
Maclaren,  quoted,  298 
Martyrdom,  246  ;  a  witnessing, 

347  ;  its  secret,  350 
Matthew  Arnold,  quoted,  iv 
Maturity  in  Christ,  6 
Mill,  J.  S.,  quoted,  xiv. 
Moberly,  Prof.,  quoted.  54 
Mysteries,  293 
Mystical  union,  50 

Neighbour,  our,  264  ;  grades 
of  duty  towards,  265 

Old  age,  how  to  meet  it,  18,  21 
Open-mindedness,     its      value, 

164,  178 
Ottley,  R.,  quoted,  30,  172 

Parental  sympathy,  40 

Patience,  born  of  sorrow,  205  ; 
vindicated,  296 

Pilate,  66 

Positiveness  of  the  divine  life, 
197 

Poverty,  334 

Prayer,  its  refreshment,  174; 
devotion  in,  176  ;  its  power, 
178 

Prophecy,  gift  of.  275 

Pusillanimity,  243  ff.  ;  irra- 
tional, 246 


INDEX 


REGENERATION,   I  |     I! 

Results,  25,  26 

Resurrection,  Tlic,  81  ;  legiti- 
mate inquiry  into,  87  ;  its 
mental  environment,  88 ;  moral 
problems  partly  solved  by,  90, 

93 
Resurrection,    Man's,    ascribed 

to  the  Holy  Trinity,  100,  ioi 
Resurrection,  Body,  The,  102  , 

its  continuity,    form,  identity, 

103,  104 
Reverence,     defined,     305  ;    its 

scope,  307  ;  for  all,  312 
Rewards,  338  ;  not  material.  341  ; 

not  matter  of  indifference,  343 


Si  1.1  -<  ONDEMNATION,  79 
Self-enlargement,  means  of,  247 

ff. 
Self-knowledge,  63.  64 
Self-respect,  311 
Service,  its  stimulus,   3  ;    never 

rejected,  if  sincere,  26 
Shakespeare,  quote 
Sickness,  s  oftened  by  reverence, 

307 

Silence,   power  of,  252 

Sin.  kinds  of,  56  ;  its  nature,  57  ; 
its  incessancy,  57  ;  its.  deceit- 
fulness,  57  ;  its  discovery,  58  ; 
conviction  of,  59 ;  morbid 
dwelling  in,  50  ;  its  conse- 
quences, 83,  84 


oui    Lord 

123  ;  wot  result  ui  imp  1 
ness  nor  unfreedom,  [24,  1. 

its  import,   126,    127 ;  human 
SinleSSneSS  a  dream,  218 
Slothfulness.    230 ;    its    cau    1 

232  ft'. 

Sorrow,  purifies  and  disciplines, 

204  ;  witnesses,  205,  206 
Spiritual  conflicts,  195,   [9 
Sunday  observance,  304 
Sympathy.  284  ;  with  happiness, 

285  ;  with  doubt,    28; 

its  value,  287;  its  limitation  . 

28,-1 

Ti.ai  HING  of  Jesus,  129;    con- 
vincing not  compelling,    131, 

Temperance  question,  The,  299 

ff. 
Tolerance,  244 

i  mi  1 1  sess,  at  home 

in  society,  259  ;  conditions  of. 
270  ff. 

Wi  -1  1^  .  t  harles,  quoti  1 
Whichcote,  quoted,  322 
Worldliness,  184 

Y(  it  in-  spi  ingtide,  culture  "f. 
}7.   !' 


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